What's In A Name?
by Pikkadylli
Summary: Story 3 in THE BRIDAL BONANZA series: In an Alternate Reality where Adam didn't leave the Ponderosa, Ben and his bride return to the ranch and discover news that is cause for a triple celebration: two weddings, an engagement...and another not totally unexpected surprise. But will a specter from the past snatch away the future for one of the Cartwrights?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: _In an Alternate Reality where Adam didn't leave the Ponderosa, Ben and his bride return to the ranch and discover news that is cause for a triple celebration: two weddings, an engagement...and another not totally unexpected surprise. But will a specter from the past snatch away the future for one of the Cartwrights? _

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: This is the third story in the Bridal Bonanza series, in which I attempt to hitch up all the Cartwright men.

The following story—in fact, the entire Bridal Bonanza series—is effectively an _Alternate Universe_-type...I happen to be of the opinion that any fanfiction is automatically AU, and so the precedents set in the TV series on which it's based aren't necessarily so.

The changes in my universe: the six seasons of the show span three years in "real" time and Adam hasn't left the Ponderosa. That means that the ages of the Cartwright clan members are: Ben is 53 (he just celebrated his birthday prior to the story), Adam is 32, Hoss is 26 and Joe is 20. This story is set mostly after the events of the first part in my Bridal Bonanza arc, and makes references to that first two stories of the series (_Silver & Gold _and _The Steeplechase), _but it is a stand-alone tale regardless.

Please be aware that there are parts in this story that are adult in nature...however, _**I will put a warning when those parts are about to surface,**_so that if you don't want to read them, you may skip that chapter if you wish.

DISCLAIMER: The following story is a fanfic—that is to say, it's a work of fiction written by a fan without any kind of recompense. It is meant for entertainment purposes only, is in NO way official to the Bonanza continuity, and the recognizable characters from the television series are not my intellectual property. Original characters in the story, however, are creations of mine, as is the story itself. If you wish to archive this story, please ask my permission.

Reviews are welcome—just please be polite.

**WHAT'S IN A NAME?** by Pykkadilly _(which is really how my pen name is SUPPOSED to be spelled!)_

_FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1862 – Kansas City, Missouri_

The travel-weary and unkempt pair of men were sharing a bottle of overpriced whiskey in a saloon that was one of the few in town that would allow the two of them to sit at the same table without insisting that the man with the negro blood in him be segregated to a special section. Neither man, however, was in a mood to celebrate their togetherness—almost three weeks earlier, they'd lost out on a thousand dollar bounty thanks to a quartet of interfering do-gooders...the Cartwrights of Nevada. If those sanctimonious S.O.B.'s hadn't butted in, they'd be in a much higher-class dive, surrounded by pretty saloon girls and having themselves a hog-killin' time.

"Boss," the mixed-blood man said suddenly. Wayne Harkness grunted an acknowledgment. "Boss...there's a woman coming over."

"Oh?" the master bounty hunter responded, grimacing. "I didn't think that this saloon had any girls available that didn't mind that you're not white." Still, Harkness made an effort to straighten up in his seat and looked around, his eyes widening as he saw the appearance of the woman that his partner Carter had been warning him about.

She was certainly no saloon girl, as she was dressed in the clothes of a well-to-do lady and was probably just a few years older than the profession preferred its adherents to be. Her apparel screamed quality, as did the set of matching sapphire bracelets, necklace and brooch.

"I've been told that you are a bounty hunter," the female said tightly. "Is this true?" Harkness nodded, unable to actually speak—a lady in a saloon was unheard of...especially in a saloon like this one.

"I have need of a bounty hunter," the woman said. "May I sit down and tell you about it?"

"Please do." It was Carter who spoke, since Harkness was still unable to get around his surprise that a lady was in a saloon. The lady nodded at Carter and took a seat, producing an oval frame and placing it on the table so that the men could see the face of the person pictured within it.

"I am searching for my—" Whatever the woman had been about to say was cut off by Harkness grabbing the portrait and letting loose with a color stream of invectives.

"Boss!" Carter hissed. The master bounty hunter fell silent, then glared at the lady sitting at his table.

"You seem to recognize her," the would-be client nodded towards the picture.

"Sure, I recognize her!" Harkness snarled. "The witch helped four men steal a thousand-dollar bounty away from me!" The lady tilted her head, her eyes narrowing.

"Then you know where she is?"

"Damn straight I do, may she rot in hell!" cursed Harkness. The lady then removed the brooch she was wearing, placing it on the table.

"This should be worth a minimum of a thousand dollars," she said evenly. "I want you to find her for me. Take the brooch now and have it appraised—you may even sell it, if you wish. I will pay you more if you but take me to where she is." Harkness and Carter exchanged glances. It looked like the bounty that busted outside of Virginia City would actually pay off after all. However, it still rankled a bit that they had lost the bounty in the first place, and Harkness didn't want to reward the woman in the portrait.

"What d'you want with her, anyhow, lady? She come into a fortune or something?" the bounty hunter asked truculently. The woman's face was wreathed in a smile that would have frozen the souls of the two men at the table, had they actually possessed them.

"You could say that, sir...she has, indeed, come into a fortune...a very_ bad _fortune."

"C'mon, Carter," Harkness said, scooping up the brooch. "We're gonna escort this lovely lady to wherever she's staying an' then find out when the next stagecoach for Virginia City is leaving. We don't want the pretty little lady—" Here the mercenary also picked up the oval portrait and waggled it as he spoke, "—to miss out on her _fortune, _now, do we...?" All three of the conspirators laughed as they left.

THE FIRST WEEKEND of September in the year 1862 was a memorable one for the newest schoolteacher to Virginia City, Nevada. Mercy Harris had managed to escape the machinations of the Virginia City Ladies' Temperance League and their designated suitor for her, one rather boring solicitor by the name of Barnabus Lathrup III. In doing so, she had propitiously run into Hoss Cartwright, the man that she found herself increasingly attracted to—he had been in the company of two of her young students, Naomi and Gabriel Callahan, with whom Mercy had claimed to the League and Mr. Lathrup she had a scheduled tutoring session.

The pretty, jet-tressed twenty-one-year-old accompanied Hoss and his newly-expanded family to the International House for ice cream, where he enthusiastically informed her about how his Pa had married Cassandra Callahan, the manager of Callahan Station to the east of Virginia City. The newlyweds had taken Zach Callahan along with them on their honeymoon trip to the East Coast, leaving the Cartwright brothers to help incorporate the remaining Callahan minors into the family.

Looking at and listening to Hoss as he proudly spoke about the newest additions to his family, Mercy couldn't help but think he would be a fantastic father to his own brood. She also couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't married and responsible for several children already—were the women of Nevada blind, deaf and dumb? Then she smiled to herself and conceded that she ought to be thankful that nobody had snatched up Hoss already, or she wouldn't be able to be here in his company.

Hoss had walked Mercy back to the little house a few streets away from the café, this time with Mercy speaking at length about how she loved teaching in the thriving town, as well as about some of the drawbacks to children developing negative records during their school year, citing an example of how one local girl had been responsible for putting a skunk in the schoolhouse to delay the end of year exams. Even though it was now at least thirteen years after the fact, the record about her behavior still existed and had served to prevent the student from obtaining a scholarship to the college in Reno. Hoss had been rather troubled by the story, but Mercy attributed that to his being so very empathetic and tenderhearted when it came to other people. It was a characteristic that had endeared him to the schoolmarm.

The following Sunday had revealed even more about the biggest Cartwright brother: she had been rescued by the man yet again—this time he had taken an active role in occurrence—when they'd met outside the church right after services. Just as they'd greeted each other, Mrs. Weatherbee (the chair-lady of the Temperance League) had suddenly appeared with that pokey lawyer from the day before in tow. It was only due to Hoss' quick thinking that Mercy was saved from hours of boredom...he invited her to his family's ranch and she accepted with alacrity.

She found herself delighted with everything about him—from his smile to his laugh to the way he would ask her to explain the definitions of certain words. Mercy just loved knowing that Hoss was interested in expanding his vocabulary—he was never afraid to ask to have the meaning of words he didn't know explained to him.

Back at the main house of the Ponderosa, Mercy found herself enjoying the company of not only Hoss but his brother Joseph—whom many of the people in the town referred to as "Little Joe." Personally, Mercy couldn't immediately tell why the young man would be called that—he was about six feet tall, although she supposed when one compared him to his brothers, he was the smallest of the trio...barely.

"Little Joe" or not, it was very clear to Mercy that the youngest of the Cartwright men was quite the natural charmer. He certainly cut a rather dashing figure with his curly dark brown hair and its chestnut highlights as well as his intensely jade-colored eyes...but Mercy merely smiled politely at him. She preferred sandy blond hair and eyes the color of the summer sky.

Rebecca Callahan, stepsister to the Cartwrights, had come to join the conversation at that point, but then realized that Naomi was missing from the group. The pretty blond discovered her little sister hiding as an extreme reaction to assuming the worst had befallen her twin brother Gabriel (who was being disciplined by the eldest of the Cartwright brothers.) Mercy volunteered to look after the two children when it became clear to her that Becky wished to talk privately to the trio of men.

Gabriel and Naomi, now that they were together again, were as engaging and bright socially as they were academically. Mercy found it a joy to talk to them and almost didn't notice when the adults of the household returned.

Almost. When Hoss stepped into the house, the dark-haired teacher looked up with a smile, basking in the warmth of the grin he aimed her way. She remembered to tell the cook, Hop Sing, that the duck he served was wonderful, in spite of the fact that Mercy could barely recall what it tasted like—she was too focused on the big man sitting at the table. She was especially impressed when Hoss was able to persuade young Gabriel to only give up three of his cookies instead of giving his new older brother all of them as a self-imposed punishment for disobeying Hoss earlier that morning.

After the meal Hoss took Mercy on that promised tour of the Ponderosa, showing her the immediate house and the nearest buildings, as well as some of the various aspects of the horse and cattle operations, and then finally capping it with showing her one of his favorite places by the lake. Mercy was entranced by the vista.

"Oh, Hoss—it's so...so..." the pretty school teacher was at a loss for words as she cast her emerald eyes around the pristine area, the overwhelming feeling of tranquility and immediate evidence of life in all its aspects escaping her ability to speak.

"It's..._so_..." Mercy tried again, and failed to find the words to convey her feelings. She instinctively turned to the man with her, leaning forward to look at him while those selfsame emotions were still fresh within her. Hoss, at that very moment, turned towards the young lady with him, leaning down to emphasize that she should try to think of some words.

They came together and froze for a moment, suddenly realizing that...oops, hey—they were kissing each other. In that moment sky-blue eyes blazing with unexpressed desire looked deeply into the depths of emerald green ones glowing with abiding love and peace.

They both surprised each other when their mouths met, at first wide-eyed with shock, but then the sweetness of the contact prompted them to close their eyes and savor the thrilling contact. Never before had anything felt so completely _right _for Mercy than when Hoss put his arms around her and pulled her close, his lips raining kisses all over her face, wandering from her mouth to her eyelids to her temple, her cheek and to the pulse beating wildly beneath her ear. It was all Mercy could do to cling to him, one hand clenched against the broad strength of his back and the other raking up into the sandy silk of the hair on his head.

"Mercy, aw, Mercy..." he murmured, cradling her close as he nuzzled the side of her neck. Then he chuckled. "I don't know if I mean to be calling your name, or begging for mercy from the feelings I'm getting with you in my arms." Hoss pulled away from her so that he could look into her face, and she could see his eyes twinkling at her in a warm azure glow.

Mercy knew it for sure then: she loved Hoss. Her smile dazzled and her own eyes blazed green fire as she enthusiastically kissed the man again, this time passion prompting her to be exceedingly bold. For an endless, ecstatic moment, Hoss was equally bold, answering her advances with equal reaction, pressing her closer and closer still—then suddenly stopping, laying a cheek atop her head.

"Mercy, darlin'...we have to stop." he told her in a somewhat shaky voice.

"Why?" Her whole body was humming with a feeling that made her feel lighter than air. The woman felt as well as heard Hoss chuckle.

"We need to stop 'cuz you're a lady," he told her gently, although his arms around her tightened, "...and I want you to stay that way." She sighed but didn't protest when Hoss released her and picked up the reins to the buggy, busying himself with driving her back to town. Mercy satisfied herself with sliding close to his side and hugging his muscular arm while laying her head on his shoulder for most of the ride back to town. The second Cartwright brother helped her down from the buggy and escorted her to the door of her house.

"There's a dreadful lot of work as needs to get done on the Ponderosa, but I'll try to visit with you this week," Hoss promised. "If I can't get away, though, I'll see you Sunday after church for sure." She smiled at him and murmured an assent. The tall man's cherubic face crinkled in an answering smile and he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss it before he reluctantly released it. Mercy watched him get into the buggy and waved goodbye when he nodded to her, her heart full to bursting for love of him.

Her dreams that night were of dancing with Hoss, waltzing around and around with him until they both fell down—and when they fell, they landed in the lush green grass that surrounded the lake he'd shown her. Mercy laughed and threw her arms around his neck to pull him down to her...and woke up with a smile on her face the next morning.

Her life was wonderful...and nothing could spoil it.

_The Palace Hotel, Virginia City, Nevada_

The trio at the dining room table looked decidedly odd, but they had paid for their rooms an entire month in advance, so the _maitre d'_ didn't ask any questions, he simply assigned them a table and dispatched a waiter to service them.

"Have you news for me?" the elegant-looking, middle-aged lady asked, unfurling her napkin and placing it on her lap. The scruffy-looking man with the reddish-brown hair shook his head.

"Not yet," he told her, "Kind of hard to ask after a woman without showing the picture you have..."

"If you show that picture," the lady countered, "She will immediately know that I am here for her...no, you have to ask after her without it...at least for now. We only arrived here yesterday, so there is plenty of time to track down where she is."

"It would help if we could remember her name," the third man, the one who obviously had Negro blood in him, said.

"Yeah, well," the other man replied sourly, "We won't forget her face, thanks to that bounty she lost us, but neither of us was paying attention to what she was called. That's why I'd like to use the picture to ask around."

"Give it a week," the lady told him. "If you cannot find out where she is by that time...then I will give you the portrait and you may use it to make your inquiries." Just then the conversation was delayed by the arrival of the waiter to take their order.

"Good afternoon, folks," the server greeted them in a professionally friendly manner. "The lunch special is fresh trout with scalloped potatoes." He glanced around the table. "Are you all here for the Harvest Festival celebration?"

"Harvest Festival?" the lady echoed inquiringly.

"Virginia City is celebrating an exceptionally productive year of crops and cattle." the waiter explained. "All this week there are events around the town, but the big day is this Saturday, when there will be the Steeplechase and the social right after. Everyone in town will be there."

"Everyone?" repeated the mahogany-maned man.

"Yes, everyone from around the area." the waiter confirmed, nodding.

"I'll have the special." the lady told the waiter. The two men opted for steaks. The waiter hurried away to get their orders in.

"You heard the man," the female at the table said. "Everyone from around the area will be attending this Steeplechase and the social. If you cannot find her amongst the people there, then I'll make sure you have the portrait to make your inquiries."

"Sounds good to us, eh, Carter?" the brunet man asked. The halfbreed's lips twisted.

"Sure does, Harkness." he answered. The lady lifted her glass of water.

"To just desserts, gentlemen!" she toasted. All three glasses clinked together.

_Sunday, September 14, 1862 – Virginia City, Nevada_

Mercy couldn't wait for the sermon to end, eager to see Hoss after not being able to for an entire week. It was all she could do to take her time and serenely return the greetings of those students of hers who waved or called her name. Finally she was walking towards the biggest of the Cartwrights, smiling as she drew near to where Hoss was speaking to one of the local women...one Miss MacGruder, if Mercy recalled the name correctly—the very same person from the parable about permanent educational records. The brunette was speaking when the teacher was within earshot.

"Well...go ahead...ask me already." the young lady prompted a bit impatiently. Hoss reached out a hand and took one of hers within it.

"JJMacGruderwillyoumarryme?" he blabbed all in one breath. The female's mouth hung open.

"_What?"_

"JJ...will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Hoss repeated, shattering Mercy's world into little pieces. The schoolmarm saw the brunette's cocoa-colored eyes grow wide as they fastened onto Mercy's face. Mercy couldn't speak for the agony that lanced through her at the moment, her eyes filling with tears as she was brutally reminded that she had no right to expect a happy ending to her personal story.

"Oh no." Hoss Cartwright's would-be fiancée breathed. Hoss seemed to stiffen and then whirled around to see that Mercy was there—and that she'd heard what he'd just asked of Miss JJ MacGruder.

"Oh no." Hoss echoed, a look that Mercy identified as a combination of remorse and pity leaping into his eyes. "Mercy!" The last word she heard him utter sounded urgent, but the school teacher wheeled away and fairly ran from the scene, bumping abruptly past Joe as he and Becky were drawing near, causing the youngest Cartwright brother to stumble back a step or two.

Mercy had headed as far away as she could with all the haste she was capable of in her state of agonized shock, knocking and bumping into people without so much as a "by your leave". She couldn't understand it—she loved Hoss, she knew she did, and she had been so utterly sure that he had feelings for her, too. She halted under a cottonwood tree, leaning against its trunk and panting in an effort not to scream and wail her heartbreak out loud, and her mind turned back to the time she had shared with the big, gentle man by the shores of the lake last week.

Mercy knew with a deep sense of shame that—had Hoss asked it of her at that time—she would have gladly chucked away all pretensions of being a lady and lived with the consequences. But he _hadn't_ asked. She'd been sure at the time that he hadn't because he was a consummate gentleman...but now...after hearing him propose to JJ MacGruder..._now _it was obvious that he had just been making sure that he was free to get engaged to the woman he really loved.

"Miss Harris?" a voice behind the suffering schoolmarm asked solicitously. She blinked to insure that no tears were building up in her eyes and turned around...to face _her_—the Jezebel who was the object of her Hoss' affections. For a moment Mercy seriously considered scratching the hussy's eyes out...but then she recalled her upbringing and drew in a deep breath.

"How may I help you, Miss MacGruder?" Mercy asked with icy courtesy. JJ blinked as the evil daggers the teacher was willing her way were almost palpable.

"Please allow me to explain what you thought you overheard," the taller woman said earnestly. Mercy clenched her teeth and her hands but didn't move.

"Thank you, Miss Harris," JJ nodded as she spoke. "Now...first of all, I am _so _sorry that you heard it at all, because clearly this has hurt and upset you. Secondly...Hoss proposed to me by accident." The raven-maned woman stared at the brunette, almost forgetting her emotional wounds.

"..._'By accident'_...?" echoed Mercy a bit scathingly. "Forgive me, Miss MacGruder, but you're a tall, strong, pretty woman who has grown up in a similar way to Hoss...how can he have proposed to you..._'by accident'_..?" JJ's lips twisted.

"Because he thought he had to save me from my Pa," she replied, humor warming her voice at the absurdity of the whole situation. "You see, Miss Harris, Hoss will do just about anything to help a body in need—so he asked Joe to propose to me, but I turned Joe down when he did that yesterday. Joe was supposed to let Hoss know that I don't need their help, but Joe forgot...so Hoss, still thinking that I needed help, proposed to me today." JJ coughed a bit. "I...uh...I turned Hoss down, too, I'll have you know."

"Why would you do _that?" _Mercy demanded. "Hoss Cartwright is the nicest, kindest, most handsome man in Nevada!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Mercy's face turned red, and she had to wonder what in the world was she trying to _do_—make the other woman change her mind and accept? The brunette she was facing merely grinned at her discomfort.

"For the very same reason I turned Joe down, Miss Harris." JJ told her. "Neither of them are at all in love with me...they're only offering out of a sense...of chivalry."

"Chivalry?" Mercy echoed again, hope beginning to bloom in her broken heart...after all, Hoss was the kind of man who was extremely empathetic towards others, even people who got into trouble...like Miss MacGruder, to judge by whatever her present situation may have been, not to mention her past escapades with the former school master. Come to think of it, Hoss had seemed awfully absorbed by that story when Mercy had related it to him some time ago.

"Are you telling me that Hoss proposed because he feels sorry for you?"

"Yes, Miss Harris...he's sorry for me and nothing else. And...I said no."

"I think you're being foolish for saying no." Mercy told her honestly.

"But...'no' is still _no,"_ JJ replied, smiling. "So...don't doubt anything that happened between you and Hoss...or the way you feel about each other." Mercy's emerald eyes looked warily at JJ. The taller young lady sighed.

"Listen," she said, "I can't stay—my Pa is expecting me home as soon as possible. Just...go talk to Hoss. He's really anxious...and I can tell he really loves you. Please don't make him suffer because he let his sense of chivalry overcome him." The school teacher hesitated, then looked around, finally spying Hoss in the distance. The Callahan-Cartwright family had set up their picnic blanket and Mercy could see that Naomi and Gabriel were trying to get their biggest brother to eat some of the food, but he just shook his head.

"I...I..." Mercy began to respond, then turned to JJ and reached out, squeezing the brunette's hand. "Thank you, Miss MacGruder." Then she hurried off to join the man she loved. On the way there, she was stopped by Mrs. Mary Bendix, little Billy's mother.

"Miss Harris," the older woman said, "I'd be obliged if ya'd accept this cheese pastie after all the trouble mah boy caused ya." Mercy looked down at the little tin plate with the baked pastry in it.

"Of course I will, Mrs. Bendix!" the schoolteacher answered brightly, taking the plate. "If you'll excuse me—I'll be right back!" With that, Mercy hurried off, not even waiting to hear the mother thank her. The dark-haired young woman approached the place where the Cartwright-Callahan brood was picnicking, drawing near as little Gabriel was talking to a rather morose Hoss:

"Hoss..." he said plaintively, "...if you're not gonna have that johnnycake, can _**I**_ have it, then?" The big man gave the boy a twist of his lips that was supposed to be a smile and handed over the cornbread he was holding without a protest. The blond boy eagerly reached for it, but found it plucked from his grasp by Adam. Gabriel turned shocked sapphire eyes up to meet probing hazel ones.

"I think you're taking unfair advantage," Adam told him. "However...there's something that you forgot to say, don't you think?" The little boy's brow furrowed a moment.

"Oh...right..." he recalled, brightening a bit. _"Please?" _The eldest of the Cartwrights nodded down at him.

"Much better," Adam agreed, giving the lad his johnnycake. "There you go."

"Thank you," Gabe said, then bit into the bread.

"You're welcome," Adam replied dubiously, turning his hazel regard onto his middle brother. "Hoss...aren't you going to eat?"

"No." The monosyllabic answer was rife with depression. Frowning, Adam was about to respond when another voice interrupted them:

"Does this mean that I can't interest you in this cheese pastie, then...?"

Hoss turned his head and saw Mercy standing close by, holding a plate that had a puffy-looking pastry in it—no doubt the cheese pastie that she spoke of.

"Mercy, Hoss doesn't like—" Joe began to say, but felt a sharp shove on his right shoulder. He turned and glared at Becky, who glared back at him. Adam hid a smile, realizing that he didn't need to be concerned about his bigger brother any longer.

Hoss got to his feet, his eyes and face full of awe-struck hope. Mercy smiled at him and held the plate out. Without a word, the big, tall man plucked up the food and ate it in three bites. The jet-tressed young lady touched him on one forearm.

"Let's go get some lemonade," Mercy proposed. Hoss followed her away.

"But we have lemonade here, Hoss...Hoss—OW!" Joe called and, once again, got jabbed in his tender right shoulder. "Becky, what the heck is _that _for? That hurt!"

"_You_..." Becky grumbled at Joe, "...have _no _sense of romance, Joseph Cartwright."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Saturday, September 20, 1862 _- _Virginia City, Nevada _

MERCY HAD BEEN waiting a good half-an-hour for Hoss when he finally pulled up in front of the neat little house she occupied in town. He had asked her to accompany him to cheer on his brother Joe, who would riding in the Harvest Festival's Steeplechase. She basked in the smile he beamed at her when she greeted him. They got to the site of where the race was starting and looked around for the rest of his family.

"Hey, Hoss! Over here!" seven-year-old Gabriel hollered as he waved wildly in spite of the fact that Adam was holding him in mid-air, making the eldest Cartwright brother chuckle and put Gabe down quickly.

"Try not to do that when I've got you in the air next time, all right?" the man chided the child gently.

"Okay. Sorry." Gabriel told him, then ran to meet Hoss and Mercy as they approached. "Did you see Joe on Sirocco? I bet he can outrun the wind!" The big man grinned down at his littlest brother.

"Wouldn't surprise me none," Hoss agreed.

"Sirocco means 'swift west wind', you know," Mercy added with a smile of her own. Gabriel's eyes widened at this intriguing new information. It seemed that one could, indeed, learn something new every day.

"Sure is a lovely day for the race, ain't it?" Hoss said by way of greeting Becky and Naomi. Mercy thought for a moment that the older girl looked a bit pensive, but Becky blinked and smiled, wishing the teacher a good day. Mercy mentally shrugged, figuring that whatever was bothering the blond must have been a passing whim.

"It's such a pretty day—Joe's gotta win!" Naomi piped up with seven-year-old logic, making the grown-ups with her laugh. The mood was light and optimistic, and the conversation that they had was equally so—until Mercy gasped at the sight of Herman Voorhees suddenly taking a swing at Joe Cartwright, sending the younger man sprawling on his back some yards away. Instantly the other Cartwright brothers were running to Joe's aid, as was JJ MacGruder.

The beefy assailant had no more than landed his one punch when found himself hauled around and receiving a similar roundhouse—this one administered by Hoss Cartwright. The farmhand went down like a bag of wet cement while the middle Cartwright brother turned glowering eyes towards another man standing close by...a man that JJ called out to.

**_"_****_PA!"_** JJ shouted angrily, storming up to the man. "What are you doing?" From the gist of the argument that ensued, Mercy gleaned that Mr. MacGruder was attempting to keep Sirocco the horse from running by putting Mr. Voorhees up to punching Joe. This didn't make any sense to the schoolmarm, so she turned her attention back to the biggest Cartwright.

"Hoss," Mercy's hands plucked at his sleeve as she spoke to him, "You didn't hurt your hand, did you?" The sandy-haired man allowed her to take his right hand in both of hers and inspect it. It was red across the lowest set of knuckles, so she drew him over to where she could dip her handkerchief in some water and press it in place over them to sooth the inflammation. Hoss flushed and assured her he was fine but she shushed him, glad for the excuse to hold his hand in both of hers. He spoke to her in a soft voice, thanking her for her trouble, his free hand touching her cheek in a tender gesture. Just then they were interrupted by an agitated Adam with a scruffy-looking boy in tow.

"Hey, Adam!" Hoss greeted him as Adam and the child approached. "JJ's got a real big lead already—no way none o' the others can catch her now." Mercy glanced over at the obviously empty starting line—she had been so wrapped up in tending to Hoss that she had completely missed the firing of the starting gun!

"Miss Harris, can you clean Oscar's face, please?" Adam addressed the jet-tressed woman with his brother. Mercy automatically sensed that Adam needed to talk to Hoss in private, so she herded Oscar a few steps closer to the water pump.

"So, Oscar," Mercy said conversationally as she used her handkerchief to get a majority of the dirt off the boy's face, "I don't recall seeing you in my classroom...do you go to school?"

"No, ma'am," Oscar responded, polite in spite of being a bit defensive. "I hafta deliver firewood to the saloons in town, so's I don't have time for school." The schoolmarm steeled herself against sighing or chiding the boy—no doubt it wasn't his fault that he was working rather than completing his education.

"That's too bad," Mercy told him. "My classroom has a severe shortage of redheaded boys, and I was hoping you could help with that." Oscar smiled shyly.

"I like readin' them picture books in school," he admitted. "But my Ma and Pa need the money, so's I help him chop an' then I take all the wood to the saloons."

"The schoolhouse could use wood, too, Oscar," she said immediately. "Can you deliver some wood to the school on Monday?"

"It's a dollar per week," he responded. "I come by three times a week. I can tell my Pa you need the wood and he'll see you to make sure I'm not lyin'." Mercy started in surprise at Oscar's words, but then nodded her head.

"That...sounds fair, Oscar. Who's your father?"

"My Pa is Josiah Congress."

Hoss beckoned to Mercy just then, and she took Oscar's hand to lead him back over to the big man's side. Gabriel and Naomi were hurrying over as well. At Hoss' feet was Little Joe, who was still sprawled out on the ground, although he had his head in Becky's lap and the blond was bent over him, stroking his face and trying to make Joe focus on her in order to see if he had a concussion.

"How's your hand?" the jet-tressed teacher asked Hoss.

"I'm fine, thank you, Mercy," Hoss replied, then he turned his attention to his littlest brother and sister.

"Why is Adam riding out after JJ?" The little boy that Naomi had befriended looked at Hoss with frightened eyes, too scared to say anything and Gabriel shrugged.

"Oscar told Adam that Mr. Dawson made him cut Sirocco's cinch strap," Naomi supplied. "Mr. Dawson is a mean man...he said he'd break Oscar's bones if he didn't do what he was told." Hoss recoiled in horror at the revelation. Mercy gave a choked sort of gasp, too.

"My God...if that strap breaks while she's racing, Hoss..." the teacher's voice trailed off in alarm. Hoss' arm automatically wrapped around Mercy's shoulders and he drew in his breath when she turned in towards him, hiding her face in his shoulder and trembling at the terrifying thought of what might happen to the feisty JJ if Adam was too late to stop her. Hoss' free hand reached up and stroked the silky jet-tressed head pressed to his shoulder in an attempt to sooth her.

"It's gonna be all right," he said in an implacable voice. "Adam's gonna make it in time." Mercy took what comfort she could from the man's certainty about his older brother's abilities. She heard Becky tell Joe—when he regained consciousness—about how the saddle on the gray dapple had been doctored...and how she believed that Lug Dawson had been meaning for Joe to be the target of the sabotage. Mercy shivered again—she had no idea who this Lug Dawson was, but she didn't like him if he was the type of person who was capable of doing something that bad.

HOSS AND THE recovered Joe herded their group to the finish line in order to see who would win.

_"__Here they come!"_ someone in the considerable crowd screamed.

"Is JJ there?" Hoss shouted over the increasing volume of the throng, as the spectators, getting caught up in the exciting competition, were cheering and yelling encouragement. Mercy tried to see, but there were too many other people who were either taller than she was or jumping up and down and blocking her view.

"I don't—no, wait—yes!" Joe hollered back as he ducked around in an effort to keep jumping and shifting people from blocking his view. "Yes...JJ's still in the race—looks like she's riding bareback!"

"Hoss, Hoss!" Gabriel yanked at the big man's shirt. "Lift me up! I wanna see!" Hoss immediately put the blond boy on his shoulders. Gabriel turned his attention to the three lead horses.

"I see Mr. Rutherford...JJ...and a man on a chestnut!" he called out. "I don't think that chestnut's fast enough—no...it's just JJ and Mr. Rutherford now! Wow! They're both runnin' all get out!" Gabe squinted. "Oh, boy! JJ's behind but she's catchin' up fast!"

Hoss, by virtue of his height, could see that JJ was in second and, as his littlest brother had enthusiastically pointed out, was quickly closing on Wayne Rutherford's palomino.

"C'mon, JJ—you can do it!" he yelled encouragement. "C'mon, Sirocco...go!" Joe was also shouting his support of the brunette and the gray dapple, pumping his fist and willing the pair to go even faster.

The entire crowd was likewise in the midst of hopping up and down, screaming for their particular favorites and anticipating the herd of horses stampeding for the finish line. So was Gabriel, whose excitement was such that his wildly waving arms unbalanced the boy and he had to grab Hoss' head to keep from tipping over—unfortunately, this resulted in the middle Cartwright brother's hat being pushed down over his eyes and he missed the finish of the race.

"_WINNAH!"_ bellowed one of the judges as another one wildly waved the huge green banner that was being used to signal the end of the Steeplechase. The crowd was in a cheering frenzy, but half the people were saying that Morning Star, Wayne Rutherford's palomino had won, and the other half were equally sure that Sirocco had managed to pull ahead at the last minute.

"Joe...Joe, did JJ win?" Hoss asked, dislodging his somewhat crushed hat from his head. Joe blew out a frustrated breath.

"I didn't see—this big palooka stepped in front of me!" Joe answered angrily, causing the man he'd just indicated with his thumb to turn around and scowl down the smaller male. Joe, however, scowled back. The man was tugged away by the lady with him, just as Joe's arm was snagged by both of Becky's hands.

"Don't you dare even think of getting into a fight, Joe!" the blond girl warned him. "Herman Voorhees has already managed to knock you down—I'll never forgive you if you get hurt worse!" Joe blinked startled green eyes and didn't resist the pull of her hands as she tugged him in the direction that Hoss, Mercy and the children were heading.

By virtue of the fact that Hoss more or less cleared a path to the finish line, Mercy and the others were able to be within a few yards of the judges when the head judge announced the winner to the race:

"_I hereby declare Rutherford's __Morning__Star__ the winner by a nose!"_

Hoss and Mercy both expressed their regrets to the brunette, who looked pale and shaky. Adam stepped forward, clasping one of the young woman's shoulders. JJ looked up at him with an expression that Mercy found herself immediately empathizing with, but the couple were interrupted by Mr. MacGruder, who was making a rather outrageous demand of his daughter: that she marry Herman Voorhees because she had promised to do so if Sirocco didn't win the Steeplechase.

Mercy was flabbergasted that the man would insist upon such a thing, especially in view of the fact that almost everyone there was telling Mr. MacGruder that Sirocco would, indeed, have won if the saddle on him had not been tampered with. It made no difference to the farmer, however—his daughter had made a promise and his personal view was that a promise was always to be kept no matter where or when or how that promise was made.

"Don't matter if the Almighty Hisself appeared and told me that JJ woulda won!" Mr. MacGruder persisted. "She made me her promise first, an' she knows she gotta keep it no matter—"

"No matter _what _she promised?" Adam interrupted.

"Yup."

"No matter _when _she promised?"

"Yup!" the older man confirmed. Frank MacGruder reached out a hand and latched onto JJ's wrist.

"Come on, girl..." he growled, "...we're gittin' ya to the church before any of these Cartwrights give me more lip!" Swallowing hard, JJ turned to Hoss and silently handed him Sirocco's reins, as the big man was the closest to her left. Hoss looked extremely unhappy, and Mercy felt more than a little twinge of empathy for JJ, for it was quite obvious that she was not in love with Herman Voorhees.

Suddenly, however, Adam told Mr. MacGruder that JJ wasn't free to marry the farmhand until after she kept a promise to a proposal of marriage that Adam had made to her—when he was fifteen and she a child of nine. Mercy gaped and then hid a smile...how very clever of the eldest Cartwright brother!

JJ, given a choice between Adam and Herman, naturally selected the tall, dark rancher. Mr. MacGruder, however, demanded proof that the proposal was ever offered. Adam rejoined that they could contact his father, Ben Cartwright, who had been an adult witness to the event. Mr. MacGruder accepted the suggestion with the proviso that he, himself, write out the message and then that the entire group go to his farm to await the answer since he didn't trust anyone associated with the Cartwrights to not try to surreptitiously contact the patriarch and tell him how to respond.

Mercy rode with Hoss in the two-seater buggy he'd used to take her to the Steeplechase. Adam and Joe rode Sirocco and Cochise respectively, while Becky drove the surrey containing the twins and Reverend Jordan. Mr. MacGruder drove a battered buckboard with JJ beside him and a sulking Herman Voorhees in the back. They made quite an odd procession on the journey to MacGruder's Farm.

On their way there, however, Hoss told Mercy how he and he family came to be embroiled in the saga of JJ MacGruder: the tale she had related to Hoss about the girl who had put the skunk in the schoolhouse had been recognizable to the biggest Cartwright, because he had not only been a classmate of JJ MacGruder, but had also been the reason JJ had pulled the prank. She hadn't—as the headmaster had incorrectly assumed—been trying to keep the test from being given, but had been trying to buy time for Hoss, who was still horribly unsure of himself when it came to figuring fractions. In the hour or so delay that ensued after the discovery of the skunk, JJ had assisted Hoss in mastering the math that had been eluding him and he'd wound up passing the test with very good grades.

"But when you told me that it was because o' that prank that JJ lost her scholarship, well..." Hoss temporized. Mercy gasped.

"So _that _was why you proposed to her?" the schoolmarm said, her emerald eyes rounding. "Because you felt responsible?" He nodded somberly.

"Her Pa...well, you heard him, Mercy." Hoss continued to explain. "He's fixing to marry her off to Herman Voorhees...and I know Herman isn't the one for JJ. All he wants her for is a share of her family's farm...maybe even as a kind of servant to look after him, like her Pa does now. He won't appreciate her for who she is."

"I...I see." Mercy told him, nodding. Indeed, she could truly empathize with young Eve Jane MacGruder now that she knew the whole story...and she sincerely hoped the woman would be able to escape the fate that her own father seemed willing to consign her to for the sake of his own comfort.

Being given a prison sentence by your own parent...yes, Mercy could definitely empathize with that...all _too_ well.

MERCY HARRIS WAS driven home from MacGruder's Farm in a state of...well, not exactly shock, but elevated disbelief. It had been rather surreal to see how Mr. MacGruder was treating his own daughter. It had been even more surreal—to Mercy, at least—to witness Adam Cartwright bodily threaten the man should the farmer attempt to contact either his wife or daughter without being invited to do so first.

"Hoss..." she said to the big man on their way back to her house, "...was...was it necessary, you think, for Adam to...to...say that to Mr. MacGruder?" Hoss grimaced while he contemplated. He, too, had been a bit surprised at Adam's actions, but only because he knew his older brother to be a man who planned, who was cautious in his approach to perceived difficulties. The Adam that was telling Frank MacGruder to stay clear of his wife and mother-in-law was being rather emotional. That at-times-damnable mask of indifference had slipped...well, to Hoss' eye, it slipped. Frank MacGruder probably didn't notice anything too different in Adam other than being the focus of the eldest Cartwright brother's ire. Having grown up with him, however, Hoss had instantly seen that Adam was being swayed by feelings. Then Hoss began to smile.

"You know, Mercy," he admitted, "I truly _do_ think that it was real necessary for Adam to tell Mr. MacGruder off—not just to make sure he won't bother JJ or her Ma, but...for Adam, too. Yeah...I do believe that Adam and JJ are a real good match for each other. I just hope they figure that out for themselves, too."

Hoss escorted Mercy to the door of her house, but would not come inside, again citing that she was a proper lady and he wanted to be sure she remained that way. He did, however, take her hand and bring it up to his lips, kissing its palm.

"Mercy," the sandy-haired man spoke with a tender smile, "I'll see you after church tomorrow? There's no social this week, but I'd be honored if you'd allow me to take you driving."

"Of course, Hoss." the raven-maned teacher told him, her own smile brilliant. He beamed at her again and took his leave. Mercy fairly floated into her tiny dwelling.

Nothing could spoil this day. Nothing.

_Palace Hotel, Virginia City, Nevada_

WAYNE HARKNESS, HIS half-breed partner Carter and their employer sat at their usual table, having dinner and mulling over the most unusual events that had occurred at the Steeplechase earlier that day.

"What now?" Harkness asked the lady with them. "You saw her—she's definitely with the Cartwrights in spite of the fact that the clod-kicker was being such a bastard." He snorted over the public display made by Frank MacGruder...if it weren't so stupid, it would almost have been entertaining.

"We wait," the matron said firmly. "Or, rather, _**I **_wait...your job is essentially over now. You've tracked her down and let me know that she is here. I can observe her for quite some time before needing to reveal myself." So saying, the woman produced and placed on the table one of the sapphire bracelets that had matched the brooch she'd used to secure the services of the mercenaries with her.

"But...I wanted to see her suffer!" Harkness answered a bit petulantly. His former employer gave a short laugh.

"What you do with your time after today is your own business," she told him. "My particular plan requires that I wait—I must wait for precisely the right circumstances, or all my efforts won't be nearly so effective. That may take only a few days...or a few months. I don't wish to keep you from any other bounties or assignments, and I don't plan to pay for you two now that your job is done." Carter glanced at his boss.

"There's that bounty on Cal Harmon that's still outstanding," he pointed out. "He's usually haunting Carson City this time of year. We could go get 'im and still be close enough in case anything breaks here in Virginia City, boss." Harkness scowled, thinking it over.

"Well...I suppose so," the master bounty hunter agreed begrudgingly, then eyed the lady. "You'll leave word for us if anything develops while we're gone?" The older female shrugged.

"As long as you don't tip my hand to her or those Cartwrights, I can make sure to leave a message with the desk clerk should anything arise while you conduct your business," she told him. Harkness smiled, nodded and then, scooping up the jewelry that was on the table, exited the dining room with Carter on his heels.

The genteel lady he left behind pulled out the silver-framed daguerreotype from her reticule, her eyes flashing green fire as she looked down at the picture of the young woman depicted in it.

"I don't care that you have a different name now." the matron growled softly. "I don't care that you've allied yourself with the richest family in the state...you've got blood on your hands, my dear...and you'll pay...oh, how you'll _pay..!"_


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Monday, September 22, 1862 – Sheffield Manor, New Haven, Connecticut_

CASSANDRA CARTWRIGHT PACED the length of the private parlor in Sheffield Manor. The private parlor was the smallest parlor in the mansion, but it measured a good fifteen by twenty feet. The way the silvered blond was pacing about in it made it seem much smaller than it was.

"Cassandra." The bass voice of her husband halted her movement and she looked over at where he was sitting on a sofa, attempting to read a copy of the New Haven_ Journal-Courier._ "I know you're nervous but pacing isn't going to make Zach return any faster, nor change the nature of the news that he'll be bringing back to us."

"I know...I know..." the woman conceded with a sigh. "It's just that...oh, Ben, all of his hopes and dreams are tied up in this...what if the orchestra rejects him?" The rancher closed the newspaper he was holding and, folding it, placed it on the end table next to him.

"Come here, Treasure," Ben bade her with an empathetic smile as he held out a hand. His dark brown eyes lit up when his wife immediately did exactly that, coming to him and, clasping his hand, allowed herself to be drawn not only onto the couch but close beside him so that he could put his arms around her.

"I wish I could wave a hand and dismiss your fears as completely ungrounded," her husband told Cassie. "Unfortunately, we both know that there's a chance that what you're worrying about will come to pass. However, we've both heard Zach play that violin of his...if the New Haven Symphony Orchestra is too short-sighted to accept him as a member, then there are other orchestras who will only be too happy to do so."

"I know, but..."

"But you don't want to see his spirit crushed..?" Ben supplied when the woman in his arms faltered into silence. Cassandra's silver-and-gold head nodded. "If Zach has even a small part of the spirit I've seen you demonstrate, Treasure, then he'll be able to take anything in stride."

"Oh, Ben!" Cassie's sigh this time was a result of the gratitude and love she felt at her husband's reassuring words. Ben glanced about and pulled her closer, his mind recalling the nights they'd been able to spend together in New Haven without fear of being overheard by Zach—like last night, for instance.

In the present time, however, Ben was intent upon soothing his wife's nerves.

"Now...why are we wasting time worrying over something that is out of our hands instead taking advantage of the fact that we're alone...and on our honeymoon..?" he asked, then drew her to him in a kiss that was sweet. Even as her arms twined about Ben's neck, however, the sound of approaching footsteps and voices warned the couple to distance themselves. They'd barely managed to do so when the door opened and into the room came Zach, along with Joseph Sheffield.

"Mama! Mama!" the young man cried excitedly. "I'm in! I played for Mr. Parker and he's asked me to join the orchestra! I'm the newest second violin for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra!" Both Cassie and Ben were on their feet, smiling and happily congratulating the blond musician. Joseph beamed at the family.

"The poor lad was white as chalk going into the hall," Joseph said slyly, "But he played his heart out. Mr. Parker knew a born musician when he heard one." Cassandra released the son of her heart from the embrace they were sharing.

"I knew you could do it!" she cried enthusiastically. "Oh, Zach...your parents would be so proud of you!" Zach grinned in reply.

"Much as I hate to intrude upon a moment of celebration, my dears," Maria said from the doorway to the room, "It's time for luncheon to be served."

"Then we will take our celebration to the table with us, shan't we?" Joseph asked rhetorically. The entire group went to the meal in very high spirits, and everyone listened as Zach recounted his own perspective of how the audition before Mr. Horatio Parker had gone. It made for an amusing tale with a deservedly happy ending. They had just finished having luncheon when the butler appeared in the dining room bearing a small tray.

"Telegram for Mr. Cartwright." he announced, presenting the tray to the silver-maned man. Ben thanked the servant as he took the sealed message.

"This must be that explanation from Adam that we've been waiting for." he said as he opened the missive and read it:

_MARRIED EVE JANE MACGRUDER SATURDAY. WILL EXPLAIN LATER. RESPECTFULLY, ADAM._

"Ben? _Ben?"_ The Cartwright patriarch heard his wife's voice as though from a distance. "Is there something wrong? Ben?" He looked up and met Cassie's concerned silver-gray gaze.

"Adam's married JJ MacGruder!" he said in a surprisingly normal voice. Cassandra gasped and then took the paper from Ben's unresisting hands, scanning the page and nodding affirmation to her equally-stunned son. Meanwhile, Ben's eyebrows drew together.

"What does he mean...'_will explain later'_..? This isn't the sort of thing one drops into your father's lap without letting him know what happened!" The rancher scowled. His wife hid a smile at Ben's obvious chagrin.

"Oh, come now, Ben!" Joseph spoke up. "Telegrams cost three dollars for every ten words...an explanation of how this came about could run into the hundreds of dollars."

"Besides," added Maria, "Would not such propitious news warrant a personal explanation?" Finally Cassie had a firm grip on her absurd outlook on the matter and clasped Ben's hand.

"It _is _news that you've told me you wished you would hear sooner rather than later, my love." she reminded him. "So...be happy for Adam...and accept everyone's congratulations on the welcome event." Ben glanced around the room, seeing that everyone else was, indeed, smiling at him. He sighed and then chuckled ruefully.

"I wanted to be there for something like this," he admitted. "But...you're right—I'm sure that Adam wants to explain in person...and it's a very happy event." The other people at the table heartily congratulated the father of the groom as Joseph summoned the butler back to the dining room in order that he may fetch forth the "special cider" with which to toast the double celebration.

_Virginia City, Nevada (approximately 2793 miles west of New Haven, CT)_

EVE WAS CERTAIN that if her brand-new corset hadn't been cinched in so tight, she would definitely have been able to catch hold of Adam and beat him to within an inch of his life! As it was, however, she had to stand stock-still while Muriel Standish was tweaking the gown she was being forced to try on. Not that it wasn't a nice gown—it was a yellow-checked gingham trimmed in white eyelet—pretty and yet sensible. No, the gown was very nice...but it was only one of about a dozen-and-a-half or so that her husband insisted on buying for her. Eve didn't see the sense of buying clothes when she had perfectly good garments back at the Ponderosa.

True, they were all hand-me-downs, and all but a handful of them were handed down to her from her brothers...but they were clean and in excellent repair. It was just so...so _wasteful _to spend money on new clothing. Especially since she'd had absolutely no idea that this was the reason Adam had insisted she come to town with him. Eve had innocently thought that he was being nice and offering her the chance to go into Virginia City with him so that she could inform her mushroom customers that there would be a period of adjustment while she worked out how her marriage to the eldest of the Cartwright brothers was ultimately going to effect her business. Instead, he had pulled up to the front of the town's premiere modiste shop and dragged her, unawares, into the place.

And _now _Adam was leaning back in a chair in the corner of the fitting room, his hands behind his head and grinning at her discomfiture. Ooooo, Eve wanted to slap that smile off his face! However, she opted to try to appeal to his logic one more time.

"Adam...if you insist on my having new clothes, wouldn't it be better for me to just sew my own? It wouldn't cost nearly as much..." the brunette wheedled. Her husband merely smirked, his hazel eyes openly laughing at her.

"Money is no object when it comes to you, Eve." His baritone, combined with the words he spoke, wrapped around Eve like rich, warm velvet. However, the amusement in his expression made it clear that he was enjoying her reticence as opposed to actually insisting that his wife was worth spending money on...at least, this is how it seemed to Eve, who mutinously clamped her lips together, tossed her head and averted her own cocoa-colored eyes from his.

Adam was, indeed, having an extremely good time, quite delighted with being able to sit in the fitting room and watch his bride being properly attired in clothing that befit her gender. Miss Standish had, at first, been scandalized that Adam should wish to watch as Eve was fitted with new clothing, but the eldest of the Cartwright brothers assured the seamstress that he and Eve were, in fact, husband and wife. Still, Miss Standish put her foot down and told him that he could _not _watch as Eve was undressed and fitted with a new corset! He had reluctantly waited until the seamstress called him back into the room and entered to find Eve glaring daggers at him as she wore a set of petticoats that fluffed the skirts of the successive gowns that Miss Standish placed on her out almost a foot to either side of her.

"Oh,_ honestly, _Adam!" Eve said in annoyance as a particularly lovely gown of ruby satin with black trim of braided cord as well as lace was draped over her. "Can you see me milking the cows in this?" Adam couldn't help laughing at the horrified look on the seamstress' face.

"No, Eve," he told her honestly, "I can't see you milking cows in a satin gown...I _can _see you attending a formal event in it, though." He nodded to Miss Standish. "We'll take it." He gave his approval to a total of four evening gowns before asking the modiste to get some gowns that would be better suited to life on a ranch. Miss Standish had provided them with good grace, first showing gowns that would be worn to such places as church or more well-to-do local events, then ending up in the serviceable but pretty daywear that Eve now had on.

"Well, at least this one isn't so wide that I won't be able to get out the door of the shop." the brunette grumbled. Adam's eyes did his laughing for him yet again, although he did have to concede that, as pretty as the most formal dresses had been, they had seemed to him, too, to be exceptionally wide. However, Miss Standish insisted that such wide skirts were the fashion order of the day.

"This one is not only a perfect look for you with your coloring, Mrs. Cartwright," Miss Standish gushed as she eyed the woman wearing her gown, "But it's a perfect fit as well."

"Good—she'll wear it home." declared Adam, getting to his feet. Eve blinked.

"But...what about my other clothes?" she asked, gaping. He shrugged.

"Miss Standish can burn them, I suppose."

"As you wish, Mr. Cartwright."

"Now wait a minute!" Eve protested, her hands fisting at her sides. "That's a perfectly good set of clothing! You're _not _burning them!"

"You're not wearing them...ever again." Adam said implacably. His wife's eyes rounded.

"_What?"_

"Eve," he said, standing up to his full height, "I brought you here with the express purpose of buying you the wardrobe that you've been lacking—the wardrobe of a woman. I'm not going to allow you to wear those other things ever again." He turned to Miss Standish. "You have everything you need to send the bill for all this to me at the Ponderosa?"

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright." the seamstress assured him with a nod.

"I'll get the clothes that you've packaged already and bring them out to our surrey." the man in black replied and left the two women to discuss whatever final details needed to be worked out. Adam gathered up what packages there were and transported them to the back of the buggy. Eve soon emerged from the shop and, after handing her into the vehicle, the couple set off to another stop in town—Abel Hagermann, master jeweler.

"I'll be right back." Adam told his wife, who nodded. Still congratulating himself for accomplishing his personal mission to clothe Eve in garments of her own, the rancher ducked into the shop and gave Mr. Hagermann his wedding ring, telling the German immigrant that he needed for it to be resized to fit his ring finger. The master craftsman measured Adam's finger and inspected the ring he'd be cutting down.

"Is big, _jah,"_ the older man squinted at the band of gold, "Quality, though...is not good. Best to buy better ring in proper size than bother with this." Mr. Hagermann looked at the solemn young man in front of him as Adam thought about what the master jeweler was telling him. Abel Hagermann was, indeed, correct about the quality of the wedding ring: it had been one half of a cheap pair purchased by Frank MacGruder, Eve's father. Frank had sized the rings to fit Eve and Herman Voorhees, a farmhand whose hands were larger than Adam's own. It had only been because of Adam's quick thinking and Ben's honest answers to some questions posed by Frank that Eve had ended up marrying Adam at all.

Still...for some odd reason...Adam was loathe to abandon the ring that Eve herself had placed on his finger, whether or not it wasn't the best quality.

"Thank you, Mr. Hagermann, but no." the sable-maned man told the jeweler. "Just resize the ring. I'll be about this time next week to pick it up."

"Ahhhh..." the shorter man said as he nodded knowingly, "...is love token, _jah? _Best to keep love token than to break the woman's heart." Adam chose not to disabuse Mr. Hagermann of the notion, but instead tipped his hat and wished the craftsman a good day. He exited the shop and returned to the buggy, taking up the reins and clucking to the horses to set them in motion on the road out of Virginia City.

"Aren't we going to stay in town at least for lunch?" Eve asked him. Adam shook his head.

"No, much as I'd like to," he answered regretfully, "All of my business is done now, and there's too much to do at the Ponderosa to stay in town." The rest of the trip to the ranch was done in companionable silence...at least, in Adam's mind, it was companionable. Eve, however, had a vastly _different _perception of things.

When they got back to the Ponderosa, Adam quickly got out of the surrey and helped Eve down to the ground by putting his hands on her waist and lifting her up and out of the vehicle...she stiffened and he glanced down—her hem was caught on a part of the wagon so he effortlessly put her over his right shoulder, reaching out with his left hand to free the gown and then letting her slide down his body to stand on her feet. He was a bit disappointed when Eve wheeled away from him and grabbed up her packages. Then he realized she was hurrying into the house with them—to their bedroom, where the clothing was due to be stored.

Hmmm...perhaps some of the chores that had been on his mind really _weren't _all that important to get done right away...

However, a snort from the horses that were still hitched to the surrey reminded Adam that some things couldn't be put off no matter how romantically-inclined he may have been feeling. He clambered back into the conveyance and quickly drove it around to where he could unhitch the horses...and a big wide grin split his face as he spotted Hoss emerging from the barn. Adam reined in the pair he was driving.

"Oh, Hoss..." the elder brother said glibly as he practically leaped from the seat and pushed the reins he was holding into the big man's hands, "...there's something that I have to go help Eve with...take care of the horses would you thanks." So saying, Adam hurried away, leaving his younger brother to stare after him. It took a moment for Hoss to decipher the last half-a-dozen or so words Adam had spoken, as the normally measured cadence of the eldest Cartwright sibling had been rather rushed.

Rushed speech...a request to do a time-consuming task...and a brand-new bride alone in the house...Hoss rolled his cerulean eyes heavenward and grinned.

"Fine, fine...but you owe me one, Older Brother," he muttered aloud as he genially turned to his newly-assigned task.

Adam, meanwhile, made his way to the house with alacrity, removing and depositing both his hat and his gun belt on the sideboard before taking the stairs (three at a time) up to the upper floor. He hurried down the hallway and halted outside the door to the room, taking a moment to attempt to not look as anxious as he was feeling. Then he opened the door and stepped into the room, closing the door firmly but silently behind him.

Eve, he saw, was standing at the bureau, her hands on the stack of hand-me-downs piled atop the furniture, her head bent as she contemplated them—no doubt wondering how best to dispose of the now-unnecessary garments. Adam stepped up behind her and, taking her shoulders in his hands, dropped a kiss on the skin of the back of her neck, just under the silky fringe of dark brown curls she possessed. Her head came back up as she sharply drew in her breath. Satisfied that he had sufficiently conveyed his intentions, Adam made quick work of the buttons on the back of her gown before he turned her around and pulled her against him, his mouth hungrily seeking hers.

He had to have been a full five seconds into the buss when it finally dawned on him that Eve was utterly unresponsive—her body was as rigid as a board and her mouth was tightly closed in spite of his effort. Confused, Adam raised his head and looked into her face, seeing an expression there that should have generated instant frostbite.

"Eve..?" he asked, completely clueless as to why she happened to be in this mood—or, to be more accurate, _not_ in the same mood he was in. As cold and forbidding as her expression had been, Adam found that his wife's words were infinitely more icy:

"Is my _master _displeased with his chattel's comportment?" Eve said through gritted teeth. Adam blinked, flinching as though a physical blow had struck him, and his previously-passionate embrace slackened considerably.

"Chattel?" he echoed. "Eve...I don't understand...has something upset you?" The woman tore herself out of Adam's arms, raking him with a scornful look.

"Upset me?" she now repeated his words in a very sarcastic manner. "Whatever makes you think that I'm upset? And, more importantly, why should you _care _that I may be? You _own _me, after all!"

Adam struggled to reconcile his wife's flushed face, flashing eyes and heaving chest with the fact that she was angry as opposed to feeling every bit as passionate as he was...or, rather, _had _been. Her words were finally beginning to impinge on his thinking processes.

"I don't own you, Eve," he contradicted her.

"You _don't?"_ she asked, her voice brittle with derision. "You certainly acted like you do!"

"What could I have done to make you think that?" Adam denied hotly, the combination of having his original intentions of romance thwarted and his inability to fathom where Eve's reasoning was originating from combining to light the fuse on his temper.

"You _told _me we were going to town." she bit off. "You _took _me to Miss Standish's shop. You _bought_ all those clothes for me. You _ordered _that my old clothes be burned. You left town when all _your_ business was done...because you said that _all _of the _important _things that needed doing were finished."

"Yes..._so?"_ Adam still couldn't tell why Eve was so upset...and now a frisson of ice slithered down his spine when the brunette before him drew herself up and lifted her chin, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"You didn't ask me if _**I**_ wanted to go...or if _**I**_ wanted the new clothes. You didn't consult with _me_ about what to do with my old clothes...or whether there was anything in town that_** I **_wanted to do. Whatever _**I**_ may have wanted wasn't _important _enough."

Adam was now staring at her in complete shock...because Eve was _right._ He'd had a specific goal uppermost in his mind—and he had not exhibited even the most basic courtesy of asking Eve's opinion about any of it...he had simply assumed she'd go along with it because it was what Adam would have wanted. He had, in essence, treated her much as Frank MacGruder had—treatment that was even worse because he hadn't even _realized_ he was doing so. His wife, however, was on a roll.

"So...now that I've been reminded of my precise place, _master,"_ she hissed, wriggling out of her gown and stepping up to Adam so that she was pressing her body against his, backing him into the bureau, "There's no reason for me not to fulfill the duties expected of mere chattel." Eve's arms wrapped around his neck and she kissed Adam—a passionate, open-mouthed buss that ordinarily would have been more than enough to keep him busy for the next hour or so...only Adam could taste the tears that had overflowed a moment before their lips met. He swept Eve up into his arms and carried her to the bed, but instead of depositing her on it, he turned and sat down so that she was now in his lap, cradled against him as her husband broke off the embrace.

"Forgive me, Eve..." he said sincerely, pulling back to look directly into the chocolate eyes filled with righteously-angry tears, "...I didn't mean for it to seem that way. I honestly wanted to do the best for you...I didn't stop to think to ask you about anything. I'm so used to just _doing _things that need to be done. I _don't _believe that you're my property...truly I don't. You're my _wife_...my partner..._never _my chattel. Please forgive me."

It was hard, Eve realized, looking into his intense hazel eyes...the emotions there were raw and blatantly earnest: Adam hadn't been thinking only of his own desires...he'd seen that Eve needed her own clothes and had efficiently gone about getting that task done as quickly as possible. She could see that he didn't conceive that his wife's perspective on his actions would be different from his intentions.

"You'll remember to try to ask me from now on?" Eve prompted. Adam saw the changes in the depths of her dark eyes and smiled at her, his hand tenderly wiping the tears away from her face.

"Yes, Eve," he vowed, "From now on, I'll ask you before I go ahead and do things for you." Her eyebrows lifted, and Adam had to chuckle. "All right—I will definitely_ try _to remember to ask you from now on."

"That's more realistic," his wife conceded. The hand that Adam had used to dry her tears went to caress her cheek, but stopped, hovering a fraction of an inch above her skin.

"May I...?" Adam asked, his hazel eyes aglow. Eve smiled.

"Yes, you may." she answered, nuzzling his palm when he stroked her cheek. His other hand then slid to where her new corset was tied in the back, pulling on one of the ends of the laces there...and halting.

"May I...?" Adam asked again, drawing out the last syllable.

"Yes, you may." was his wife's reply and he untied the corset, loosening and then removing it from her. Eve noted the trajectory of the garment so that she might easily find it this time around. Her husband bent his head to hers, then stopped within a breath of her lips.

"May—"

"Shut up and kiss me." Eve cut him off. Adam chuckled and did just that...and more.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

REBECCA CALLAHAN EYED the stubborn lavender jersey before her. She only had the finishing stitches of the right-hand cuff to go and the darn thing was looking crooked. It had taken her all of this time to get this stupid gown done and there was no way she was going to allow a crooked cuff to undo all her hard work. She frowned and glared at the fabric, as though by sheer willpower alone the young woman could straighten the hand-sewn seam.

Becky knew how to cook for upwards of twenty people. She knew the best way to get oily stains from fabric and how to distract a gaggle of giddy cowpokes fresh off the range so that they didn't start fighting and breaking up furniture. She knew how to balance the books so that the accounts for the way station were true.

She did not know how to sew.

No, actually, Becky knew _how _to sew—it was just that she didn't know how to sew _well_...nor knit nor crochet nor tat lace. None of those things were in her list of skills. Yet here she was, attempting to make up for shoving a cake in the face of Miss Parthena Applegate.

The blond sighed...and then smirked in memory of the ludicrous sight of the redheaded witch with strawberry frosting and spice cake smeared all over her spiteful little face...and front. As frustrating as it had been to sew the gown (and as just plain irritating as Parthena was), Becky wasn't at all sorry for the act that had caused her to perform the penance. And, penance though it was, she was not going to give the project anything less than her best effort. Mama had always emphasized that when you had to make amends, it always behooved you to do your utmost.

Utmost or not, Parthena was still a real pain in the neck...who looked atrocious in pink frosting and spice cake.

"You're lucky your Mama isn't here to see that evil smile on your face, Rebecca Callahan." The teasing came from a familiar voice, and the girl looked up to see its owner grinning down at her.

"And what would _you_ know about that, Joseph Cartwright?" she asked primly. The young man shook his curly dark brown head, making the chestnut highlights catch the sun's rays.

"Don't act so high and mighty," he chided her, his emerald eyes twinkling. "I speak from experience—I smiled way too many times like that to not know mischief's behind it."

"_That_ I can believe," Becky replied, then had to chuckle. "I'm almost done with Parthena's gown...but I was remembering the reason why I have to sew the dress in the first place." The blond's admission immediately set the youngest Cartwright brother to cackling as he, too, recalled the sight of the dreadfully bedraggled Parthena with frosting and cake crumbs all over her face and dress. Becky's "evil" smile turned into a genuine one. Joe's giggling subsided and Becky stuck the needle into the cuff to finish the last of the stitches needed on it...and hissed in pain as she oh-so-gracefully stuck her own fingertip. Her reflexes had her pull out the needle and shake the hand in pain.

"Becky!" Joe was right in front of her in an instant, taking her left hand in his and isolating the injured index finger. "Are you all right?" She couldn't help but stare up at him, her sapphire eyes wide. Why, oh why, was Joe Cartwright with her like this, _now_...now that they were basically step-siblings? She would have given anything to have him notice her at all before, but now she couldn't—_shouldn't_—be thinking about him in any kind of romantic way. It was...

Joe, however, was concerned about the injury the pretty golden blond had dealt herself, fishing from his pocket the linen handkerchief that he still remembered his own mother admonishing that every gentleman carried. As a rancher, Joe publicly used the bandanna he habitually wore for most tasks one may need a handkerchief for, but on those rare occasions that he'd had to assist a female in need of one, the youngest Cartwright son would produce the fine linen square of cloth and offer it for use. Now he pressed the handkerchief to the punctured index finger to stem the blood beading at its tip.

"There...all we gotta do is..." Joe glanced from the hand he was holding into her upturned face—and suddenly thought of how blue Becky's eyes were, "...just..." And how soft and inviting her pretty pink lips looked, "...hold it..." And what it might be like to kiss her right on that cute little black beauty mark to the right side of those lips, "...there..." It was very tempting. In fact, it was...

**_...a _****_sin_****_..._**

Both young people blinked and broke their self-induced trances simultaneously. Joe dropped Becky's hand and backed off as Becky's gaze dropped to the ground and she curled her injured hand to her chest. He babbled something about tending to Cochise and she murmured about how she needed to see Eve about some beads. Both of them fled in opposite directions—Joe to the barn and Becky inside the house.

"Eve? Eve?" the blond girl called, fighting to get her breathing under control. From upstairs there was a light thud of footfalls as the brunette bride of Adam came down the stairs with a basket of clothing in her hands. The older female glanced curiously at her step-sister-in-law.

"Yes?" Eve responded.

"I...I'm done with last bit of sewing." Rebecca explained. "If...if you could sew on that beadwork, I'd...I'd appreciate it."

"All right, this way." Eve led the obviously flustered blond from the room, wondering why Becky looked so agitated...and (not for the first time) wondering if Joe had anything to do with it. Ah, well.

In the barn, a very spooked-looking Joe practically burst into the building and hastily began tending to Cochise. Adam, who was working on tack maintenance, looked up and noted the rather pale and shaken look on his youngest brother's face.

"Why do you look like you're being chased by Sam Hill himself?" the sable-maned man asked curiously. Joe—who grimaced because he'd actually met "Sam Hill"—snorted and applied himself to removing the saddle and bridle from his pinto.

"Not funny, Adam," mumbled Joe. Adam arched an eyebrow, noting that Joe was not only being extremely painstaking in his actions, he was also now not being very talkative, either.

So Adam shrugged it off—must've been a guy thing. Joe would either talk about it later or work it out.

HOSS WAS PAYING a call on the pretty schoolteacher in Virginia City, Mercy Harris. Today they were driving near the town and talking, the subjects ranging from the best way to treat a colicky colt to the different ways to be able to observe the ducks in a pond. While Mercy always insisted that she was no expert in animals, she was certainly interested in hearing about them from Hoss and often had some surprisingly astute opinions about wildlife and animals in general.

And she still had that cute way of pursing her mouth when she had to stop and think about something. Hoss knew that such a habit was going to be his ruination one day...but he couldn't help but try to get Mercy to "explain" things to him, just to see her do that darling movement with her lips.

At the moment, Hoss was pointing out a nest of birds that had taken up residence in the gap between the top of the wall and the somewhat warped roof of an abandoned shack just outside town. Mercy smiled at the sight.

"Who'd've thought that you could find so much life in such a derelict place..?" the young lady asked.

"Derelict?" Hoss prompted, sounding puzzled.

"Derelict..." Mercy immediately pursed her lips in concentration, "...desolate...dilapidated...forsaken...well...such a pokey old shabby shack!" The schoolmarm peered at him suddenly.

"Hoss...you've got that look on your face again," she said, that cute moue disappearing as she eyed him. The big man tried to be nonchalant.

"That look..?" he asked innocently. For a moment Hoss feared that he hadn't been able to feign his ignorance, but Mercy drew in her breath to say something and then shook her head.

"Never mind," she dismissed her notion. The man with her heaved a silent sigh of relief...he hadn't been caught yet...thank goodness!

"Have you heard anything from your father and his wife?" Mercy changed the subject. Hoss found himself grinning.

"Oh, sure!" he replied enthusiastically. "Pa sent a telegram congratulating Adam about marrying up with Eve...and he let us know that Zach joined the orchestra just like he was hoping!"

"How wonderful for your family, Hoss!"

"We all are mighty proud of Zach, that's for sure." Hoss agreed. "Pa let us know that he and Mama are gonna stay East till the end of September, then they'll be coming home." The dark-haired lady glanced at him, a mix of surprise and respect in her expression.

"What's that look for?" Hoss asked.

"I'm...very surprised to hear you refer to your father's new wife as 'Mama' already," Mercy admitted, adding hastily: "Oh, pleasantly so, I assure you! But...surprised, nonetheless—after all, she only got married to him a few weeks ago, didn't she?"

"Well, that's true enough." Hoss conceded. "You might say I learned it from my newest brother and sisters."

"Really?"

"Yup," he said, nodding. "You see, Becky, Gabe and Naomi...they all had their Ma and Pa...but they died in a fire, so then their Aunt Cassie came along and helped them learn to love again. When their Aunt Cassie did that, they all decided that she was more'n just their aunt...and they all told her she was their Mama. That's how they all look at her now." He shifted on his seat before continuing. "Now, I had my Ma who brought me into the world, but she died before I knew her...and then I had my Pa's wife Marie...she loved me and I learned to love her back—so she became my Ma. And now there's Miss Cassie, who's always been a real good friend to my brothers and me even before she married Pa. I don't think of her the same as a 'Ma'...but she's surely more'n just 'Miss Cassie' to me now, even if all I look at is just how doggone happy she's made my Pa already. So...well...guess I just can't help but think of her as 'Mama' now, too. It just _fits."_

"So you lost your mother when you were a baby..?" Mercy mused softly. Hoss gave a short sigh.

"My own Ma's name was Inger," he explained. "I was only a few months old when she died. Adam knew her. I was old enough to remember Ma...Marie, who is Joe's Ma. She was pretty and mighty proud about keeping the house clean for Pa." The middle Cartwright brother grew pensive. "There was one time that I remember, though, that she beat me an' Joe in the best mud fight ever." Mercy couldn't help but laugh at that.

"She sounds like she was the best Ma in the world!" the young woman said with a smile.

"She was," Hoss confirmed, then looked intently at Mercy. "What's your Ma like?"

It was as though he had picked up a bucket of meltwater from the high Sierras snowpack and had hurled it right into Mercy's face, for the pretty teacher's laughter died and her face paled. Hoss thought for a moment that she was about to faint.

"Mercy?" he asked, anxious that he had somehow caused her distress. Her emerald eyes dropped but he reached out a hand to her and placed a bent finger under her chin, tenderly tilting her face up to his.

"Mercy...if I caused you any pain, Mercy, I'm sorry..." he apologized softly. Her eyes met his and his heart twisted for the wistful look deep within the verdant orbs.

"You...you don't have anything to apologize for, Hoss." she told him. "It's just that...I lost my mother six years ago...and I...I still miss her terribly."

Quite naturally Hoss immediately engulfed the clearly emotional young lady in his embrace, one of his hands tenderly petting the glossy raven head pressed against his thumping heart. The quiet interlude in which his earnestly offered comfort was gratefully accepted lasted for a long time, yet both Mercy and Hoss felt that they needed to pull apart far too soon. However, pull apart they did, as the sun was considerably lower in the sky than it had been at the start of their drive out together.

"I'm sorry I got so...emotional, Hoss," Mercy apologized as he walked her to the door of her little house. "I didn't mean to make you despondent." Hoss immediately saw a way to salvage the unhappy mood that had taken over.

"Des-pon-dent?" he repeated, schooling his features to remain mildly inquiring as opposed to flagrantly triumphant when the schoolmarm puckered in concentration.

"Despondent...disconsolate, doleful, lugubrious, melancho—" Her list of synonyms was cut off suddenly because Hoss bent down and took advantage of her own distraction and kissed her in mid-sentence. When he straightened up again, Mercy's piquant face was a bit flushed. She glanced up and down the relatively deserted street before smiling back up at him.

"We're very lucky that Mr. Foster—or one of his cronies—isn't around," she told him in what was probably supposed to be a reprimand, but it was a little too breathless to prompt anything besides a shy grin from the big, tall man with her. "He's been expressing some reservations about the way I teach my classes."

"But he's _not _around," Hoss reminded her. "And I'm not a-tall sorry I kissed you."

"Neither am I."

This confession had Hoss walking on air for the rest of the week.

ONE WEEK AFTER he'd left his wedding band with Mr. Hagermann, Adam was back at the master craftsman's shop to pick up the ring. The jovial jeweler nodded to the rancher.

"_Ja, ja_...I go get! Wait here!" Mr. Hagermann bade Adam, hurrying away to the back of the shop. The tall man glanced around the tastefully-decorated place, his lips twitching in a near-smile when he saw some of the more ostentatious pieces as he leaned almost negligently against the counter. Mr. Hagermann came bustling back towards him, so Adam moved to stand up straight again. As he did so, a piece of jewelry inside the glass-topped showcase caught his eye. Adam tried on the resized ring—it fit perfectly now—but then nodded down at the jewelry that got his attention.

"Mr. Hagermann...may I see that pin?" he asked. The older man squinted down at the piece Adam was indicating and then hastily took it from its berth.

"Ahhh...see?" the craftsman said with a smile as he presented the jewelry to the younger man. "You know quality when it shows, _jah!_ Is good brooch...fine diamonds...fine sapphires...good work, _jah!"_

"Did you make this?"

"_Ach, nein..." _Mr. Hagermann denied, "...This one...the work is from one hundred...maybe one-hundred-and-a-quarter of the years past. Good work...French, I think." Adam considered the pin...or the brooch, as the jeweler put it: it had a distinctive design without being showy...just the right type of jewelry he felt that Eve wouldn't mind wearing.

"I'll take it." the sable-maned man declared. Mr. Hagermann beamed at him, then waved a finger.

"_Warten sie!"_ the German jeweler bade, then peered around at the surrounding areas of the showcase. _"Warten sie...warten sie_...now where was...ah! _Jah! _Is here!" Mr. Hagermann found what he was apparently looking for a few feet away and hastily removed another piece of jewelry from the showcase, handing it to Adam. The eldest Cartwright brother inspected the new item: a sapphire-and-diamond bracelet, made to match the brooch. Again, Adam was pretty sure that Eve would like the style.

"It's very pretty," Adam admitted. "If you didn't make these, though, Mr. Hagermann, where did you get them?"

"Pay for them, _jah,"_ the older man said conversationally, "Rough man come with them and I say 'is not stolen, _nein?' _Everyone knows I not buy stolen goods. He go get lady...lovely lady...she have rest of set...other bracelet...ear bobs...necklace. Lady vouch for sale. I pay then." Adam contemplated the brooch and the bracelet as the jeweler told his tale.

Logic dictated that, as pretty as the pieces were, Eve was likely to object to getting them on the grounds that they were far too expensive as well as she couldn't conceive of where she could wear them. Adam, however, recalled that one of her formal gowns was a similar color blue...and that red satin gown would provide a vibrant contrast to the sapphires as well. This brooch and bracelet weren't everyday pieces for their lifestyle, to be sure, but Adam knew there would be a few times in the upcoming months his wife would have the occasion to wear them.

"All right, Mr. Hagermann...I'll take both." Adam said, then got down to the business of finding out the price and arranging to make the payment for the jewelry. He left the shop with the gifts for Eve in his pocket, hurrying to go join her at International House for lunch. He arrived first and was at a table when she finally joined him. Adam immediately saw that she was looking rather pensive as he held her chair for her to sit down.

"Trouble with the mushrooms..?" he asked, seating himself. Eve had decided that she would be continuing to supply the town's restaurants and hotels with her harvests from the MacGruder family's mushroom crop with the aid of her youngest brother Jimmy. Eve oversaw maintaining the contacts with the various customers and keeping an eye on the growing conditions of the mushrooms while Jimmy harvested and then delivered them. This worked out fine for her as she got to spend more time with her mother as well as the other members of the Callahan-Cartwright family, too.

"No," the brunette shook her head. "It's that...well...I saw Dr. Martin today..." Eve trailed off, obviously wrestling with some sort of news. Adam was suddenly struck by an idea of what that news was, freezing with the enormity such a possibility...

...Eve couldn't be trying to find a way to tell him she was carrying his child...could she...?

At that moment, his wife's cocoa-colored eyes looked up into his face and her words quashed the early stirrings that had begun within him.

"Oh! _No, _Adam!" Eve said hastily, blushing a bit. "Sorry...I didn't _go see _Dr. Martin...I ran into him while I was out and about." Her mouth twitched and her expression seemed to Adam to be a mix of gentle humor and wistfulness. "It's just a little too early for anything like a baby. Sorry." Her husband chided himself for jumping to such a conclusion this early into their marriage then went on to prompt Eve to continue what she'd intended to relate.

"Ah, yes...well...I ran into the doctor, and he told me the terrible news about Gertrude Trent," Eve told him. Adam's eyebrows knit.

"Gertrude Trent?" he echoed, the name sounding a bit familiar but Adam couldn't place it. Eve sighed.

"Gertrude Trent was Simon Trent's mother," she reminded him. Memory clicked and Adam stiffened: Simon Trent had been one of a group of bounty hunters who had held the Callahan family hostage two months earlier in order to surprise a wanted fugitive that was due to arrive on an incoming stagecoach. Eve had gotten shot escaping the scene and had ridden to the Ponderosa for help. All four of the Cartwright men had immediately gone to the aid of Cassandra Callahan and her brood, but in the ensuing confrontation, Hoss had killed one of the bounty hunters and Ben had shot another—Simon Trent. Ben had felt terrible because his bullet ended up paralyzing the young man and Hoss had forfeited the reward money to the Trents to help care for Simon.

Now that Adam finally placed the name, he pounced on something else his wife just said:

"_Was_..?"

"Gertrude Trent died," Eve told him soberly. "Dr. Martin said that she had been to see him and few other doctors. They all told her that Simon would never walk again. She...apparently couldn't live with the awful news." Adam's hazel eyes glanced at her sharply.

"You mean...she took her own life?" he asked the unthinkable. Eve swallowed and nodded silently, her hand reaching out and gripping the fist Adam had been unaware he'd made on the table.

"I'm sorry, Adam," she said in a soft but sincere voice. The eldest Cartwright son thought about how his father would take this bit of news, then decided that he wouldn't tell Pa...not until he could do so in person. The patriarch had had a hard enough time struggling with the self-inflicted guilt of holding himself responsible for Simon Trent's paralysis...adding the onus of Gertrude's suicide to it was a burden that was best shared when Ben was back at the Ponderosa, where everyone else in the family would be there to help the man bear up under that emotional load.

Even as he thought this, Adam became aware of the warmth of his wife's hand empathetically squeezing his own. The man in black flashed a brief almost-smile at her, lifting her fingers to his lips.

"Thank you," he acknowledged. "I think we'd best wait until after Pa is back before telling him about that." Eve sighed and nodded.

"That sounds for the best," she agreed. Any further conversation was forestalled by the arrival of the person who came to take their order for lunch. Adam decided not to give Eve the jewelry he'd gotten for her, seeing how it wouldn't be the best time to do so after hearing such devastating news. After the lunch order was given and the waiter was gone, Eve told her husband about the latest developments with her mushroom business, then broached a subject she'd also been thinking about lately.

"Adam," the brunette said firmly, "We need to talk about moving to a house of our own." Adam looked at her but remained silent.

"The house at the Ponderosa is big, but the family now consists of your father, three brothers and two sisters...then there's you, me and my mother," Eve pointed out. "Just now you were...anticipating my telling you that I was with child. If that should happen anytime soon, we would have to stick him in a cupboard, as there wouldn't be any room left!"

"Or her..." Adam replied, his face its usual neutral mask, but his hazel eyes aglow with humor.

"What?"

"You referred to our future child as _'him'_," Adam clarified, "When our future child might possibly be a _'her'_. We have no way of knowing which one it may be." Eve tilted an eyebrow at him but then chuckled.

"It would serve you right if our future child was a _'they',_ then you'd be running around after twins!" she rejoined, prompting a chuckle from her husband.

"All right, you win the battle of wits!" he conceded. "But I'm glad you brought the point up. A few days ago, I rode out to a site that I had in mind...to see if the house I'd started was still at all sound..."

"This wouldn't be the romantic little cottage you were building for Laura Dayton, would it?" Eve asked drolly. Adam gave her a startled frown. "Don't glare at me, Adam Cartwright—Laura was bending the ear of anyone with the time to listen—_first _about how horribly you were neglecting her and _then_ about how terrible she felt that you had been building a house to surprise her with all that time." His wife was looking far too amused at his expense, but Adam went on with his original statement:

"I went to see if the framework was still sound...but I found that it wasn't," he said. "However, I've always liked that particular site for a home...I'd like to build the house for us there if you're agreeable."

"In this case, I trust your judgment, but I'd love to see the location."

"It's on the northern shore of the lake...we can drive there after lunch—if you're all done with your business in town."

"Adam Cartwright!" Eve said with a bright smile. "You remembered to ask! Oh, I could _kiss _you!" Her husband glanced at her, but went on to describe the type of house he had in mind, outlining some ideas he had for an improved bathing room as well as installing a washout closet that he'd once read about. Apparently an Englishman named J.G. Jennings had created the item, which was being hailed as the forefront of "sanitary science."

"Hmm...an indoor outhouse that washes itself..." mused Eve.

"Well, actually..." Adam temporized, "...the basin _flushes_ out the...uh..."

"You don't have to explain _that _part, thank you," she assured him. "But...I think it's a great idea if it works...I hate having to deal with chamber pots during the freezing or really wet weather." The couple finished their meal and drove to the site that Adam had begun building that other house—it now seemed like ages ago to him.

"This is a great location!" Eve confirmed as she stood looking out at the views that would be seen from the house. "We're on the right side of the mountains so that we shouldn't have as much wind blowing on us nor snow building up in the winter months, and we're close enough to the lake to not be as hot in the summertime..." She turned a beaming smile in his direction. "Adam—you're a genius!" He didn't bother masking his own grin as he pulled Eve into his arms and held her tight.

"Genius has its rewards," Adam murmured, bending his head to kiss his wife. "And I seem to recall you offering to kiss me while we were at lunch..." She responded enthusiastically but gasped because besides kissing her, the man was starting to unbutton her gown.

"_Adam!"_ Eve protested, her brown eyes widening. "We're outside...out in the open!"

"We're alone...in the middle of the Ponderosa," he countered. Her dress was falling open.

"This isn't up for debate!" Eve expostulated, shivering in the warm sunshine.

"I'm not debating," her husband stated the obvious, his mouth wandering away from hers but his hands continued to peel away clothing.

"It...it's _daytime_..!" the brunette's objection had lost considerable heat as Adam was now nibbling the side of her neck. Her hands were clinging to his shoulders rather than trying to push him away.

"All the better to see you with, my dear."

"_Adam!"_

Mr. and Mrs. Adam Cartwright continued their philosophical debate to their mutual satisfaction, each of them convinced (after it was over) that they had emerged victorious.

And, actually...they were both right.

_Wednesday, October 1, 1862 – Union Street Station, New Haven, CT_

Ben Cartwright hurried back to the platform where his wife and her son were waiting for him. Ben had just sent off the telegram informing the family back in Nevada that he and Cassandra were about to start their three-week trip home. The ivory-maned rancher wasn't afraid that he and his bride might miss the train bound for New York City—no, his haste was due to the fact that Zach Callahan was patiently suffering his mother's last minute admonitions to be courteous, keep warm, work hard and...

"Don't forget to wear your muffler and gloves once the snow starts falling!" Cassie bade the young man as she hovered near him. "Especially your gloves...you're a professional violinist now, Zach, and your hands are your life."

"Yes, Mama," the violinist in question replied with a long-suffering tone. Ben's smile was fleeting, for he was now in the vicinity of the pair and Cassie turned around to appeal to him to make her son see reason...just as Zach was silently begging him to make his mother stop treating him like a child. The older man put his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Now, Cassandra," Ben said in a jovial tone, "Aren't all those things what you've told Zach before? In fact, I daresay, those are all things that you've taught him before, right?"

"Yes, Ben," she agreed in a tone that was mildly reproachful but nonetheless acquiescent.

"And you, Zach," her husband turned towards the young blond man, "You don't plan on deliberately disobeying or ignoring what is, after all, sterling common sense, now, do you?"

"No, sir!" Zach declared firmly, then himself faced Cassie, his hands clasping hers. "Honest, Mama...I'll take care of myself...I'll save up my money...and I'll come see you again as soon as I can. Until then...I'll be just fine, Mama...really I will."

"I...I know," the silvered blond lady admitted, looking earnestly up at the man who had once been a lost boy. "I...I just don't want to say goodbye. I...don't want to lose you."

"You'll never lose me, Mama," Zach told her. "You came into my life...into our lives...when we all needed you...you taught us everything that Ma and Pa would have if they'd remained. I'll always have you inside me, Mama...that will never change." Cassie swallowed, her silver-gray eyes swimming with tears, then she threw her arms around her son's neck.

"God bless you and keep you, Zacharias Callahan," she intoned, kissing his cheek. "And you let us know when you have the time available to visit us...I'll sell off bits and pieces of the station if I have to in order to make sure you have the fare to get back to Nevada!" Her nephew-cum-son returned her fierce hug and tender buss.

"I'll keep that in mind, Mama," he assured her, then turned to Ben, putting out a hand that the older man took and shook firmly, accompanying it with a slap on Zach's back.

"You take care of my Mama, sir," Zach told him with voice that bespoke the blond's trust that Ben would do so...along with an underlying hint of steel that promised retribution should the rancher fail in that duty. Ben, however, nodded in understanding, for he had expected no less from the young man who loved his Mama.

"I surely will, son," he responded.

"Nine-fifteen to New York City...all aboard the Nine-fifteen to New York City!" bellowed the conductor from the train that was, even now, parked on the rails a few yards away.

"God bless you and keep you, Mama," Zach returned her sentiment, smiling, "You and Uncle Ben both. I'll see you again soon—knock wood!" Cassie stiffened and then hugged Zach once more before turning away and almost running to the train. Ben had time to tell Zach "Write often! Take care!" before hurrying after his wife, more than a little surprised at her behavior.

Ben caught up with her in one of the cars, where she sat by a window and was clearly struggling not to burst into tears. It was a losing battle, from the looks of it.

"Treasure..!" his comforting bass rumbled as he sat down beside her and took the weepy female in his arms. "There, now, don't cry! We'll see Zach again soon...and you won't even have to sell parts of the way station—I'll be happy to give him the fare home." Cassandra's face buried itself into one of Ben's solid shoulders.

"Y-you don't...you don't understand," she said, her voice muffled because she hadn't lifted her head. Her husband tenderly but firmly took her chin between his thumb and index finger, tilting her tear-streaked face up to his.

"What don't I understand, Treasure?" he prompted.

"This is the same exact thing that happened to me almost twenty years ago." Cassie told Ben. "I stood in this station, crying because my brother was going off to embark on his exciting new life with his wife and baby boy and I was going home...only now...well, I'm still going home, but it's that baby boy—all grown up—who's going off to embark on his exciting new life."

"And you're going to miss him, I know—" Ben began to reassure her, but his wife shook her head, anxiety washing over her expression.

"No, not that," she denied. "It's what Zach just said now...it's exactly the same thing Jason said to me before he left: '_I'll see you again real soon, Cass...knock wood'_...only...only I _never _saw Jason again, Ben—he died before I could." The tears spilled over afresh as the distraught lady once again buried her face into her husband's shoulder. Ben's grimace went unseen by her but he felt that he had to try to comfort her somehow. His large hands came up, one of them cradling her head to his rapidly-becoming-drenched shoulder and the other rubbing comforting circles on her back as she shook from her muffled sobbing.

"I honestly wish I could tell you that your fears are completely unfounded, Cassandra," he murmured, "But...we both know I'd be lying. We both know that bad things happen sometimes...but...I also have to point out that, as far as Zach is concerned, he is the captain of his own fate, and he fully intends to stay afloat no matter what." His bride was still for a moment, then her shoulders shook even harder.

Oh, dear. That hadn't gone well. Ben pulled back a bit to try a different tack with his wife, but she, too, pulled back—and the rancher stared at her because she was bestowing a watery smile upon him. He gave a sigh of relief as he belatedly recognized that Cassie's shoulders hadn't been shaking due to increased distress—she'd been shaking with laughter.

"Oh, Ben—trust an ex-mariner to come up with a sea-going metaphor!" she said, then fumbled for her handkerchief and dabbed at her face with it. "However...you're right. Zach's an adult and I cannot keep him packed in cotton wadding. I'll just have to trust that he will live his life to the fullest...just like his father before him." Ben smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead...then caught sight of a movement on the platform as the train whistle blew.

"Cassandra—look...Zach's still there. He's waving goodbye."

The lady with the silver-and-gold hair turned in her seat turned to look out the window just as the train yanked itself into motion, its herky-jerky gait making it hard to focus for a moment...but then her eyes fixed on the tall blond man who was only four years younger than the other Callahan male Cassandra had parted from almost two decades earlier.

Zacharias Taylor Callahan waved the hat that he'd swept from his head and grinned like he had his entire life ahead of him. His Mama conceded that, yes, indeed—Zach _did _have his life ahead of him...just as Cassandra had hers ahead of her. And so it was that Zach's last sight of his cherished Mama before the billowing clouds of steam from the locomotive obscured everything was her smiling face that was dominated by large silver-gray eyes glowing with love.

Inside the train, Cassie turned back to the man with whom she was making her own new life, her palm lovingly cupping his cheek.

"I love you, Ben Cartwright," she told him sincerely. The man's dark brown eyes flared with passion before settling into a glow that warmed her through and through.

"I love you, Cassandra, my Treasure," he told her with all his heart in the words. Heedless of the people around them, Ben bent his head and kissed his wife until the conductor had to tap him on the shoulder. Then both Cartwrights settled down in their seats and behaved with complete propriety for the rest of the trip...holding each others' hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_**Thursday, October 2, 1862**_

JOE CARTRIGHT KNEW the instant he pulled the surrey up to the front of the schoolhouse that something had happened, for sitting on the steps were his little brother and sister, the twins Gabe and Naomi, along with Mercy Harris, their teacher. Joe knew he wasn't late, but the stern look on Mercy's face was the tip-off for him that something had occurred, and Gabe's own rather sullen expression only confirmed it.

"Good afternoon, Miss Harris," Joe greeted the young lady, tipping his hat to her as he did so.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Cartwright," Mercy replied politely. The youngest of the Cartwright brothers got down from the vehicle.

"Hoss asked me to send you his highest regards," Joe said, barely containing a grin when the jet-tressed schoolmarm flushed a pretty shade of pink.

"Please thank Hoss for thinking of me," she told him with a smile. "And kindly convey my highest regards to him as well." The rancher nodded, then eyed the twins once again. Gabe was still looking a bit mulish, while Naomi was definitely apprehensive.

"I'll be sure to do that, Miss Harris," Joe said, then glanced pointedly at his brother and sister. "I get the feeling that something is amiss?" The stern expression returned to the teacher's face.

"I am most sorry to inform you that I had to physically restrain Gabriel during our lunch time today," Mercy reported. "Apparently he and Nathan Riley came to blows." Joe's eyebrows knit for a moment, then his face cleared as he mentally recalled the boy named Nathan Riley—he was a good four years older than Gabe and bigger, too.

"Nathan Riley?" the brunet man mused. "Why would you get into a fight with Nathan Riley, Gabe?" The sandy-haired boy said nothing in response, but his scowl deepened. Naomi looked even more distressed than before.

"Gabriel," Mercy said firmly, "Your brother asked you a question and your silence is making your sister worry." The boy's eyes slid to where Naomi stood biting her lip.

"That's just _it,_ Joe!" Gabe burst out. "Nate was sayin' you aren't my brother—but you _are!_ You _ARE!"_

"I don't understand..." Joe responded, shaking his head.

"I was tellin' the fellas all about those horses you were breakin' for the Army," Gabe explained. "When it came up that my brother was best darn horse-breaker in the territory...Nate said that I wasn't a Cartwright, an' that you aren't my brother, so I better keep my stupid mouth shut." The little boy scowled at the memory. "So I hit him."

"I saw the commotion in the schoolyard and had to go over and physically lift Gabriel off Nathan,"

Mercy finished telling Joe. "I've already spoken to Nathan and to Mr. Riley about how Nathan's gibes weren't called for and will not be tolerated in the future. However, I also had to speak to you since Gabriel was the one who struck the first blow." The Cartwright man nodded his curly dark head—there was something that wasn't quite adding up, but he didn't want to tip Mercy off to his suspicions.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Harris," Joe said gravely. "It's a matter that will certainly be discussed." The schoolmarm's emerald eyes cast over the twins.

"Try not to be too hard on Gabriel," Mercy told him softly, "It was wrong for him to strike out the way he did...but he so obviously has taken your status as his brother to heart." Joe gave her a smile that he knew won over many a fair maiden's heart.

"We'll get it straightened out, Miss Harris, don't you worry," he assured her, then wished her a good day and turned to help the twins into the surrey.

"Goodbye, goodbye, Miss Harris!" both of the children called, waving, although Naomi's well-wishes were a bit more animated than her brother's.

"Goodbye, children. I'll see you tomorrow!" Mercy answered, adding as the horses began to move off: "And give my regards to Hoss, please!" Joe waved an arm in acknowledgment, grinning as he turned his attention to driving the surrey towards Callahan Station, where he was going to collect Becky. He was in the midst of thinking up some way to get the twins to tell him what had truly happened in the schoolyard when Gabe spoke up.

"Joe...?"

"Yes, Gabe?"

"You...you're not gonna tell on me to Adam...are you..?"

The youngest of the official Cartwright brothers recognized the sentiment behind the question—he could still very clearly recall those times when his own teacher would report a similar incident to Adam when the eldest Cartwright came to escort Little Joe home to the Ponderosa. It was never any fun to have to admit to Pa about getting into a fight or pulling some prank, but it was ten times worse for him to have Adam become privy to such events.

Adam Cartwright, of course, was in a unique position within the Cartwright clan—he was the eldest son and, traditionally speaking, heir to the Ponderosa, but the age differences between Ben's three sons had also served to make him another father figure for Hoss and especially Joe. Young enough to empathize to a degree but also old enough to know the proper behavior for civilized gentlemen, Adam was also able to maintain enough of an emotional distance to not fall for a majority of Joe's "discipline avoidance" tactics.

In other words, where Ben might be persuaded that a given occurrence was a unique event that would never happen again, Adam often continued to hold his brothers to a higher standard and enact some form of discipline where their father may not have.

"Wellll..." Joe hedged, "...that all depends..."

"On what?" Gabe asked anxiously.

"On what happened with Nathan Riley," Joe qualified. "You didn't say much in front of Miss Harris...but it's just us now. Mind telling me exactly what happened?" Gabe was silent.

"I was with Gabey," Naomi said suddenly. "We were both tellin' everyone about how really good you are at breakin' horses. _**I **_was the one who said that you were our brother. I was the one who said 'my brother Joe is the best darn horse-breaker in the whole Nevada Territory...' I was the one that Nathan started teasing." The young man driving the surrey was still.

"Go on...what happened after that?" he prompted.

"Nate was bein' real nasty about disagreein' with Naomi and me," Gabe explained. "He said Naomi was just a girl an' didn't know nothin' about it. I said you were, too, our brother..._and _the best darn horse-breaker in the territory. Nate...he made an ugly face an' said that unless Uncle Ben an' our Ma were evil sinners we _couldn't _be brothers an' sisters, so we better keep our stupid mouths shut."

"That's when Gabey jumped on Nate," Naomi added. Joe's hands on the reins tightened but he didn't say anything that he was thinking at the moment out loud—namely that Nathan Riley was a boy who definitely deserved a necessary talk out in the woodshed. No wonder the normally-easygoing Gabe had thrown the first punch! It was something that Joe, himself, would likely have done given the enormity of the insult not only to the twins' natural mother but to Ben Cartwright as well.

"But we _are_ brothers and sisters! We _are!"_ Gabe muttered mutinously. Again Joe had to hold himself in check, because it was obvious that the insult that Joe drew from Nathan Riley's mocking words was _not _what had upset the twins—Naomi and Gabe were hurting from the thought that the Cartwrights and the Callahans weren't the "one, big family" that they had both been so very proud of when Ben had married their adoptive mother Cassandra.

How to handle this..? The brunet man frowned as he contemplated but then his expression cleared up.

"I sure do agree with you there, Gabe," Joe said, then added: "I noticed that you don't seem too worse for wear...Miss Harris must have stopped you right after you knocked Nathan Riley over."

"No, sir," the little boy said smugly, "I jumped on him an' he tried to hit me with a rock."

"But I bit his arm," Naomi interrupted.

"Then I hit him in the eye," Gabe completed the story. "That's when Miss Harris pulled me off Nate."

"What did Miss Harris say about the rock?" the man driving the surrey asked carefully.

"Nothin', Joe," Gabe answered. "Miss Harris didn't see Nate with the rock—and Naomi had stepped back after bitin' him an' makin' him drop it."

Joe was inwardly aghast. First a disturbingly precocious eleven-year-old makes suggestive insults to seven-year-old children and then he tries to hit one of them with a rock! Joe had planned to give Gabe a bit of a half-hearted lecture and then leave it between the three of them, but this latest revelation made it mandatory that he needed to bring this to Mr. Riley's attention.

"Nate had a really big shiner under that eye when his Pa came and got him," Naomi put in.

"I'd think _so!"_ Joe agreed, then blew out a breath. "Listen...Gabe...the fact is you're not supposed to knock people down or hit them just because they say something you don't agree with. It was especially risky for you to do that with Nathan Riley, because he's a whole lot bigger than you. _But_...what you really ought to do—what you ought to _try _to do—is to remember that Nathan Riley didn't know that all of us Cartwright and Callahans had agreed that we _are _brothers and sisters. _We _all know we're one, big family...so anything that silly old Nathan might say doesn't matter at all."

"I didn't think of it that way..." Gabe admitted. Joe chuckled.

"Then try to keep that in mind if that ever happens again," the man driving the surrey reminded the boy. The rest of the trip, first to the way station and then back to the Ponderosa, was made with a considerably lighter spirit—at least for the children.

THE TOPIC FOR conversation at the Ponderosa dinner table was how far along Adam and Eve's house construction was, for both of the twins were fascinated that the newly-married couple would ever want to move away from the main house.

"Everybody is here," Gabe pointed out. "And we're supposed to be one big family." Joe stiffened but then broke open a roll and paid attention to buttering it a bit as Adam addressed himself to the boy's almost plaintive statement.

"We _are _one big family, Gabriel," the sable-maned man told him sincerely. "It doesn't matter whether we're here at the main house or living by the lake—we will _always _be family."

"Even if I hit somebody?" Gabe asked anxiously. Adam blinked, exchanging looks with his wife. Hoss looked stupefied, as did Mother MacGruder, but Becky turned penetrating sapphire eyes on Joe—Joe, who had been not quite himself when he came in the surrey that afternoon with the twins in tow to drive her home to the Ponderosa. She opened her mouth to speak.

"I want an everyone hug!" Naomi announced.

"An 'everyone hug'?" Eve echoed, not having heard the term before. Adam gave a chuckle.

"This is going to be enlightening," he said, getting to his feet. "I'll go get Hop Sing."

"What's an everyone hug?" Elvira asked. Her daughter shrugged—this was the first time she'd ever heard of it. Hoss got to his feet with a grin.

"I think you're gonna like it, Mother MacGruder," the big man said fondly, "Y'see, whenever you need a little bit of extra comfort, you ask for an everyone hug, and everyone who's here gets together in one great big hug." The older woman looked bemused.

"Do tell!" she said, glancing at Eve, who shrugged once more, although there was a smile on her face when she did so this time. Just then Adam returned with the Chinese houseman accompanying him.

"Everyone hug!" Hop Sing said excitedly. "Hop Sing...oh..._**I**_...like this!" The oriental man corrected his speech—Eve had been coaching him on his use of English in exchange for learning Cantonese from him. Hop Sing was getting better at referring to himself as "I" nowadays.

"How do we do this?" Eve asked, looking around at the large family group—everyone was standing except for her mother, who was in her wheeled chair.

"We can start by huggin' Mother MacGruder!" Gabe proposed. Before anyone could say anything, the twins went to either side of the paraplegic and threw their arms around her neck.

"Oh, my!" Elvira exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.

"Hmmm...that chair is going to make things a little awkward." Eve pointed out, tilting her head as she saw what the everyone hug was going to entail.

"Take your time to figure it out, child." her mother bade her happily, her own arms encircling the twins hugging her. "I don't mind a-tall!" Eve chuckled and looked at her husband, raising her eyebrows.

"Hop Si—uh..._**I**_ next!" Hop Sing volunteered.

"I _am _next." Eve prompted.

"Yes, yes...hugging now!" the cook said almost dismissively, concentrating more on standing more or less to one side of Gabriel and encircling the boy, Mrs. MacGruder and Naomi in his embrace. Eve brought the back of her fingers up to her mouth to cover the titter that almost erupted at Hop Sing's reply. This "everyone hug" seemed to have plenty of fans.

Becky and Joe joined the group. Eve stood back a bit, analyzing the formation.

"Oh, stop staring and just hug already, woman!" Adam told her with more than a little humor in his voice. The brunette found herself propelled forward and adding her hug to everyone else's with Adam on her right side, his left arm around her back and partially enfolding Becky, while his right arm shared contact with Joe and Hop Sing. Hoss was last, the spread of his arms almost large enough to encase everyone.

"My goodness, this is nice!" Mother MacGruder chirped from the middle of the group. Eve had to admit to liking the feeling of being hugged...then she yipped unexpectedly. It was a short sound, however, that got covered up by Naomi's announcement:

"Thank you! That's enough!" Everyone released from the hug, although once again Becky noticed something: Eve was giving Adam some rather pointed looks and Adam was assuming an innocent expression...a little _too _innocent. It wasn't until after the children went to bed that Eve spoke to her husband.

"Just _what _did you think you were doing?" she asked him as Becky herded the twins up the stairs. He looked over at where Mother MacGruder was parked near the blazing fireplace, speaking with Hoss in tones that made it impossible for him to tell what the subject was. On the other side of the hearth, Joe was staring contemplatively into the flames. Judging that nobody could overhear their conversation, Adam responded.

"Doing..?" he repeated ingenuously. Eve folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"We were in the middle of a shared family moment when you..._grabbed _me."

"Did I?"

"It was either you...or we've got tiny little elves that run around the ranch pinching people's bottoms."

"Did I ever tell you the story about how Hoss found some leprechauns on the Ponderosa one day...?" Adam asked conversationally. His wife's cocoa-colored eyes narrowed.

"I have learned never to trust somebody who answers questions with questions, Mr. Cartwright," Eve told him succinctly. Adam sighed, looking and sounding as though she had wounded him to the quick. The effect was ruined, however, when he snuck a look at her from the corner of his eye to see if she had relented in her accusation. Eve rolled her eyes skyward and shook her head, stepping next to him and then smiling.

"Adam Cartwright," she said with a sigh, "You can be the most vexing, intractable, irrefutable conundrum!" The college-educated rancher had a ghost of one dimple showing as he felt rather smug at her description of him...then his hazel eyes flew wide open at the unmistakable feel of his wife's hand grabbing him in the same place on his body that she had been grabbed. He gasped and looked around the room, his face flaming. Hoss and Mother MacGruder were still talking together...Joe was still brooding by the fireplace...and Becky was now descending the stairs. None of them had noticed.

However, Eve had a retaliatory grin on her face.

"Shall I start looking for leprechauns?" she challenged him. Adam lifted an index finger to take Eve to task when Becky interrupted by asking a question that was actually directed elsewhere:

"Joe...do you know why Gabriel was so worried about the family at dinner?" Adam noticed that his brother's habitually relaxed stance was actually rather tense—and that it had been so since the youngest brother of the blended family had quizzed Adam about whether they'd all remain a family after the lakeside house was built. Joe looked at Adam, pausing a moment before relating what had passed between himself and the twins when he went to pick them up.

"I probably wouldn't be telling you about the scrap at all," the brunet man admitted, "Except that I don't like the idea that Nathan Riley said what he did to the twins..._and _he picked up a rock to hit Gabe with."

"Amos Riley isn't the kind as'll like hearing what his boy done," Mother MacGruder said firmly. Her daughter nodded.

"And if Nathan allowed Gabriel to look like he started the fight, I don't think he'll have admitted to his father about intending to use a rock as a weapon." Eve pointed out.

"I'm going to have to talk to Gabriel about this," Adam decided. "He has to realize that it was a very serious risk he was taking—not only with himself but with Naomi, too, since she got involved in defending him."

"I'm going to see Amos Riley tomorrow after I drop the children off at school," Joe announced. "He needs to know how his son is behaving."

"Mercy oughtta know about this, too," Hoss added. "She might have done something different if she'd known about that rock." Everyone agreed on that, as well.

The rest of the evening for the adults was a bit subdued. Eve went to assist her mother in getting ready for bed, a ritual that didn't take the younger woman as long now that Elvira had her wheeled chair. Since coming to the Ponderosa and discovering that she needn't depend on Eve to do every single thing for her, Elvira took every chance at being independent that she could. For the most part, the paraplegic could carefully undress for bed with little help, but still needed Eve to at least hold the wheeled chair still whenever Elvira went to get into or out of the chair.

Eve kissed her mother goodnight and went back out to the living room, where she found Adam alone. He was sitting and staring into the flames of the fireplace, brooding. The brunette went to him and silently stepped around behind him, her hands reaching for his shoulders, clasping them firmly. Her husband stiffened then, bit by bit, relaxed as Eve began kneading his shoulders, the back of his neck and the space between them, slowly rubbing away the tension that was there.

"The reason it's called a 'necessary talk,' Adam," his wife reminded him softly, "...is because it's necessary." The man she was massaging sighed.

"I know," he conceded. "It's just that...if I had been in Gabe's position, I probably would have done the same thing."

"Just as I would have been biting the hand holding the rock, too," Eve agreed. "But your own father would have taken you to the woodshed, now, wouldn't he?"

"Yes." The admission was heavy with regret. Eve came around to face her husband, who stood when she did so. She put her arms around him and gave Adam a warm, tight embrace, rubbing her cheek along the side of his neck.

"It doesn't have to be more than a switch or two at most, anyway," the woman pointed out. "If I know anything about Gabriel at all, he won't protest." Unseen by his wife, Adam's lips twitched.

"No, he won't," he agreed, his own arms enfolding Eve's body. Then an impish urge swamped him and he yielded to it, one of his hands dropping to the brunette's backside.

"He's really a rather re—_EEK!"_ Eve suddenly squeaked when she felt that telltale pinch again. She pushed at Adam's shoulders, pulling away from him enough to look up into his smiling face but not out of his arms entirely.

"_Adam Cartwright!"_

"What? Under attack by those sneaky leprechauns again?"

"Oh, you—"

Whatever Eve may have had on the tip of her tongue never got said, as Adam's kiss very effectively silenced her. Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright quickly withdrew to the privacy of their bedroom to discuss the strategies of defense versus leprechaun attacks.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

JOE SPOKE FIRST to Mercy Harris about the incident that had occurred in the schoolyard, having a word with her outside the earshot of the children after he dropped them off at school the next morning. The teacher's emerald eyes rounded as he outlined the true sequence of events.

"Oh, my goodness!" Mercy cried. "Mr. Cartwright...I can only apologize. If I had known about Nathan saying such things...and then picking up a _rock_.._!"_ She shuddered and looked horrified.

"I'm sure you probably would have handled things differently, Miss Harris." Joe said expansively. "I'm planning on having a conversation with Mr. Riley so that he can be aware of his boy's behavior. Hopefully he'll set Nathan straight." Mercy sighed and bobbed her head.

"I'll resolve to be more vigilant in the future."

"Thank you, Miss Harris." Joe said, tipping his hat to the young lady. "Oh, and Hoss sends you his highest regards...again." She flushed, murmuring her thanks and returning Hoss' regards. Joe smiled to himself. At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if Hoss and Mercy simply eloped before Pa could come home, the two were so obviously smitten with each other. He climbed into the surrey and clucked to the horses, grateful that his older brother was experiencing a romance that looked to finally be with the right kind of woman at the right time in their lives.

True to Mother MacGruder's prediction, Amos Riley did not like what Joe told him about Nathan.

"I want ya to know, Joe," the older man said to the youngest of the Cartwright brothers, "That I didn't raise my boy to believe he c'n say such terrible nasty things about other people. An' I can't say as I blame ya for being worried about 'im picking up a rock to smack somebody with—especially a boy Gabe's age! That's no way for Nate t'be acting."

"Just wanted to make sure you knew about your boy, Mr. Riley." Joe told him in a somber voice.

"Thank ya for it." Amos replied. "Fool boy coulda killed Gabe if'n he smacked the child with a rock." The older man rubbed his face with one hand. "I'll be sure t'speak to Nate about it. That's a promise." Joe nodded soberly and left, both of the men believing the matter to be settled.

_Saturday, October 11, 1862_

HOSS WAS, ONCE again, beaming brightly as he looked out over the colorful crowd of people attending the barn dance that the Muellers were hosting in honor of their very first grandchild's birth. He had, in each hand, a cup of punch and was scanning the throng to pinpoint Mercy's location.

"There can be only one reason you've got that look on your face, Hoss Cartwright," a voice said laconically, "And that's the fact that you an' that pretty little schoolteacher are sparkin'." The middle Cartwright brother grinned at the speaker—Lewis Jasper, a premiere blacksmith of Virginia City and a personal friend to Hoss.

"Well...nothin's official." the sandy-haired man hedged, eliciting a snort from the shorter, dark-haired man with the closely-trimmed facial hair.

"Don't go pullin' my leg, Hoss!" Lew retorted. "A party like this is supposed to allow all the unattached folk a chance to mix—an' that gal o' yours won't do more than give any fella a single turn...an' some of 'em none at all." The blacksmith nodded his head off towards his right.

"Now most o' the fellas around here know when to take a hint." Lew remarked. "But it looks like Barney Lathrup isn't one of them." Hoss followed the direction of Lew's nod and frowned a bit: the officious young lawyer was talking to Mercy, who didn't look thrilled with the conversation and was shaking her head. Barney persisted, however, leaning down towards the jet-tressed young lady.

"Pardon me, Lew."

"Not a'tall, Hoss." his friend responded, a grin stealing across his face at the sight of the big man's set expression. For somebody who was insisting that his romance of the pretty schoolmarm was unofficial, Hoss looked to Lew to be officially about to teach Barney Lathrup (the Third) a long-overdue lesson about poaching on another man's preserves.

"I've already consented to dance with you earlier this evening, Mr. Lathrup," Mercy was saying in a voice that reminded Hoss of a stretch of badlands: flat and hard, "I have no desire to dance with you again." The junior partner in Lathrup and Lathrup, Attorneys at Law wasn't taking the obvious hint, however.

"But, Miss Harris," he said in a rather whiny voice, "We so obviously suit one another! We are both educated, refined and well-bred. You could hardly do better than a match with me."

"I beg to differ." Mercy rejoined, but then smiled as Hoss approached with the cups of punch he had been kind enough to go get. She stepped eagerly toward him, holding one hand out.

"Thank you ever so much, Hoss." she told the big man, her voice now becoming as soft and warm as her expression. The sandy-haired Cartwright smiled back, bending down and giving her one of the cups.

"You're welcome, Mercy." Hoss replied politely, then cast a mild look Barney's way. "Is ol' Barney here bothering you?" The shorter man spluttered.

"If you _must _presume to be so familiar," the lawyer practically hissed, "Then it's _Barnabus!_ You know I hate hearing my name shortened." Hoss merely looked benignly at him.

"I do believe that Miss Harris has declined to dance with you, _Barney,"_ Hoss told him pointedly, "So you'd best get to askin' another gal." The dandy raked the large rancher from head to foot with a scornful look.

"I'll believe it from Miss Harris' lips and no other."

"Then, for the fifth time, Mr. Lathrup—I don't want to dance with you." Mercy repeated succinctly.

"Fine, then." Barney spoke in a snippy tone. "I'll leave you to your fate at the oversize hands of this...this barbarian!" Hoss scowled at the smaller man and Barney hastily moved away. Mercy gave a sharp exhalation of breath.

"Don't pay any attention to him, Hoss," she bade the middle Cartwright brother, "Mr. Lathrup's nothing but a craven, anyway."

"Craven..?" Hoss prompted, immediately seizing on an opportunity to get Mercy to make that face he liked so much. She unwittingly obliged.

"Craven," she repeated, her lips puckering in concentration, "Caitiff, poltroon, wretch...a yellow-bellied sneak!" She glanced up at him, wondering why he was smiling. Hoss showed her his empty cup.

"As long as you're not dancing with Barney," he proposed, "How about taking a turn around the floor with me?" Mercy presented him with her own empty cup.

"I thought you'd never ask!" she agreed. Hoss took the cups and found a convenient horizontal surface to stow them upon before taking the dark-haired beauty and sweeping her into his arms onto the dance floor in a graceful waltz. Both of them thought the same thing: there was nobody else in the place except them.

"Is Hoss actually going to wait until Pa is back from his trip to the Old States?" Eve asked her husband, with whom she was dancing some yards away from where the second Cartwright son and the school teacher were circling the area. Adam spared his younger brother a speculative glance.

"That's a good question." he conceded. "Hoss is looking taken enough to just go find Reverend Jordan and tie the knot now."

"I almost wish he would." Eve rejoined. "Hoss has been getting preoccupied to the point of being almost useless around the barn. He keeps flooding the troughs." Adam glanced down at her, quirking an eyebrow. His wife chuckled.

"He starts daydreaming while he's pumping the water..."

"...and then he floods the troughs because he has the fair maiden on his mind." the eldest of the Cartwright brothers drew in his breath with a nod of his head as he realized what Eve was alluding to. "Well, I _have _been noticing that Hoss has needed...more reminding about his chores than usual of late. Buck up, Eve...Pa and Mama are due home in less than two weeks."

"I can only hope the Ponderosa can survive until then!" Eve quipped, eliciting a laugh from her husband. She chuckled again and caught sight of something past his shoulder that made her smile. "I see that Becky is finally getting back to normal." Adam glanced behind him to his left and saw his stepsister dancing with Rob Hollister—the pretty blond and the lanky redhead made a handsome couple. The eldest of the Cartwright brothers nodded.

"Rob's a good friend of Joe's." he said easily. "Becky's made an excellent choice...but...what do you mean by 'normal'..? I hadn't noticed anything odd about her—she hasn't been ill or anything without my knowing, has she..?"

"Well...it's not that she's been _ill,_ Adam," Eve assured him, "I just...well...I've just noticed that for the past few weeks, Becky hasn't been as...demonstrative as she normally is." Once again her husband's skeptical brow elevated. The brunette sighed.

"I know you've known the Callahans since they moved into the territory," she qualified, "And you became even better acquainted with them when Cassandra came from Connecticut to help with the family, but you, of course, were far more involved with life on the Ponderosa. I, on the other hand, saw the lot of them almost daily when I was delivering mushrooms to the way station. Becky...is a very warm and loving girl—very friendly. Lately, however, she's been given to...periods of contemplation."

Adam thought for a moment, re-examining what he'd seen of Rebecca since the Cartwright and Callahan families had blended into one household at the Ponderosa. Becky had been nothing but loving and supportive after her adoptive mother married Ben, advising Adam on the occasion or three that had cropped up concerning the discipline of the children. Now that Eve had brought it up, the young lady in question had seemed a bit preoccupied, even as she quietly agreed with the punishment that Adam had decided upon giving to both Gabe and Naomi after the schoolyard fight.

It hadn't been easy, for he had immanently identified with the motives behind the twins' actions: Nate Riley had been teasing and belittling Naomi, so Gabe had reacted in her defense, while Naomi had seen Nate grab the rock he was going to hit Gabe with and had bitten the older boy to keep her brother from harm. Still, the point had to be made that they had to conduct themselves with each others' safety in mind _before_ things came to blows. He'd spoken to Becky and she had agreed that a single stroke for each child was sufficient, along with making sure that each of them realized exactly what lesson the discipline was supposed to teach them.

The twins had understood completely, just as Rebecca had predicted they would...but now that he had time to think on it, the young woman had seemed a bit more subdued than usual. Not melancholy, really, but certainly a lot less sunny than she usually was.

Adam looked back to where Rob was drawing Becky to the refreshment table—his stepsister was smiling and nodding up at the earnest young man. Rob's father was a gunsmith and Rob was also in the business. The Hollisters were known to be honest tradesmen who did excellent work. It would be a good match if anything came of it, Adam thought.

"Thank you, Rob." Becky said with a smile as she accepted the proffered cup of punch from the redheaded man with her and sipped from it. She was being far too despondent, she knew—this was a happy community celebration and she ought to be mingling as much as possible...but her heart wasn't in it. So, although she had circulated about and spoken to the various young men she'd come across, Becky had only danced about maybe half-a-dozen times—once with Dr. Martin (who technically didn't count, as he was married) and two other dances with two of her stepbrothers. She suppressed a sigh and tried to appear to be interested in Rob's dialog about how busy things were at his family's shop. Her sapphire eyes strayed to where the only stepbrother she hadn't danced with tonight whirled past with Marietta Price in his arms.

Joe, it seemed, had absolutely no problem dancing every single dance with every single girl at the barn dance.

_'Stop it—just __stop__ it!'_ Becky chided herself firmly. _'He's your __brother__ now, remember? You're not supposed to be jealous of the attention he pays to other girls—even if Marietta tends to lean a bit too closely towards all the boys she pays attention to.'_ Her interior dialog didn't seem to be helping her, however—Becky still couldn't seem to move past her rather selfish and inexplicable feelings.

"—don't you think, Becky...?" Rob's voice suddenly cut back into the blond's thoughts. Embarrassed that she had no idea whatsoever about what the redhead had been talking about, Becky immediately nodded and smiled.

"Oh, I agree completely with you, Rob." she said, still totally clueless about the subject at hand. Her dancing partner, however, smiled eagerly at her and then, drawing her arm through his, led her off the dance floor...and out of the barn. Becky groaned inwardly—this would teach her not to let her mind wander while she was with a boy. Even as she tried to think of some way to gracefully withdraw from the situation, Rob moved a few feet to one side of the door and stopped.

"You sure are pretty tonight, Becky," the tall, slender young man said earnestly, "That dress of yours makes your eyes look as bright as the summer sky."

It had been on the tip of Becky's tongue to make some excuse and move back inside, but Rob's attempt at romance caused her to hesitate—he wasn't exactly Shakespeare, but he was a far sight better than Levi Durham (who had told Becky that her lips reminded him of some salmon he'd eaten recently.) So, instead, the blond girl turned her gently-smiling face up towards the redheaded boy with her. Rob bent his head, leaning down and kissing her on the lips.

No, Becky decided, Rob was _nice_—but this was kind of like kissing Zach or Gabe. No spark.

Rob lifted his head, his expression a bit puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it may have been was destined never to be heard. Suddenly, Rob pulled away...or, to be more accurate, Rob was wrenched rather violently away. Becky blinked in shock as she witnessed the redhead get punched dead in the face. Then she screamed...

THE EVENING WAS going just fine and Mercy was feeling as though her feet weren't even touching the ground, dancing in the arms of Hoss. How different life here in the western half of the country was from that of Maryland. Instead of being at a barn dance, the venue in the older state would likely have been a cotillion of some sort, with the attendees all being part of the upper echelons of Baltimore society. The dances would all have been very refined and none of the ladies present would have given a thought to dancing more than twice with the same man—a fact they would have been able to keep straight thanks to the ubiquitous dance cards that were a must for any such occasion.

If Mercy had been told six years ago that she'd be dancing almost exclusively with a big, tall handsome rancher in a barn in Nevada, she would have laughed in their face and sent them away with a haughty flick of an ivory fan.

She really had to tell Hoss about that—feeling the way they did about each other, Mercy was convinced that he deserved to know the truth about her. Oh, she worried a bit that Hoss may spurn her once he knew all about her former life...but the jet-tressed teacher felt she knew him well enough to trust that his own ability to accept people for how they were rather than whatever had happened in the past would come to the fore.

At least, she very much hoped so.

"Hoss..." Mercy said to him, "...let's get over to the side. There's something I'd like to say to you, but we need a bit of privacy for it." The sandy-haired man smiled down at her.

"Awright, Mercy." he agreed, leading her from the dance floor and to a door that led outside the barn. Once outside, Hoss turned to her and looked at her with his heart in his eyes. Mercy lost herself in the depths of his veracious blue eyes for a moment. Even as she drew in her breath to speak, the man with her acted on impulse and kissed her with a sweet passion. Mercy clung to his shoulders for a moment, but then pulled herself away with some difficulty.

"Hoss...that's not fair." she chided, but smiled as she did so. "I need to tell you—"

The moment was forever shattered by a scream. Hoss was immediately running towards the sound, with Mercy only a fraction of a second behind him. They came upon a rather shocking scene around the corner from where they'd exited the barn:

Rolling around on the ground, trading punches as a wide-eyed Rebecca and Marietta Price stared in shock, was Rob Hollister...and Little Joe Cartwright. Even as Hoss and Mercy hurried up to the combatants, Becky seemed to snap out of the stupor she was in.

"Stop it! Stop it _this instant!"_ she bellowed in a voice that would have had Hoss pause...and it was clear that Rob hesitated. Joe, however, was now on top of his best friend and drawing back his fist to deliver what was sure to be a very painful blow. Hoss reached down and literally lifted Joe off the redhead, holding his younger brother up in the air so that his feet couldn't touch the ground—no mean feat, as Joe was single-mindedly struggling to get back to beating on his best friend.

"What happened?" Mercy gasped, looking from Joe's grimacing face to where Rob lay, rubbing his aching jaw.

"_Nothin'_ happened!" the redhead insisted. "I was out here with Becky—"

"You were _kissing_ her! I _saw_ it!" Joe snarled. Hoss speared his hot-headed little brother with a look of mingled disbelief and annoyance.

"And just how did _you_ happen to see it, Li'l Joe?" he asked, not looking in the direction of Marietta, who flushed to the roots of her dark hair. The panting Joe merely leveled a deadly look at Rob.

"Hoss asked you a question, Joe." Adam's voice now spoke up. Becky looked around, suddenly realizing that Adam and Eve were now here. The eldest Cartwright swung his hazel eyes to where Hoss still had Joe around the waist, Joe's feet still being held up from touching the ground.

"I think you can put Joe down now, Hoss." Adam said quietly. The middle Cartwright brother hesitantly lowered Joe down until the young man was on his feet. Meanwhile, Adam helped Rob get up.

"Joe's right." Rob admitted. "I _was _kissing Becky."

"You can't _do_ that! She's my—" Joe started to bellow, but cut himself off. Hoss rolled his eyes and Adam folded his arms.

"I appreciate that you're taking your duties as a brother seriously, Joe," Adam said evenly, "But simply interrupting them would have sufficed...unless Rob was taking more liberties than just kissing Becky?"

"He was _not!"_ Becky denied hotly, herself blushing furiously.

"I would _never..!"_ spluttered Rob at the same time.

"You still haven't answered Hoss' question, Joe." Adam pointed out implacably. "Just how is it that you were on hand to see what happened?"

"We came outside so that Joe could kiss me." Marietta confessed, drawing all eyes to her. Well, almost all eyes, for Joe instead looked at Becky, whose pink face had paled suddenly. However, Joe wasn't the only one to see this, as Eve's brown eyes were probing the expressions of both Becky and Joe.

"I think it's time we all went home, then." Adam said with a frown. "Apparently this barn dance has stirred up the wrong kind of excitement for our family."

Hoss drove Mercy home from the dance, but the events of the evening erased her impetus to tell him what she had started to bring up before the ruckus had started. The missed opportunity would come back to haunt her later.

THE JOURNEY BACK to the Ponderosa was punctuated by the conversation between Adam and Eve, who were in the front seat of the surrey. The silence from the opposite ends of the rear seat—upon which was Joe and Becky—was deafening. Once the vehicle stopped in front of the main house, however, Joe was out of his seat and around the surrey in a flash, reaching up and helping Becky out by putting his hands around her waist and lifting her out of the conveyance and onto the ground.

They stood for a moment in rather tense silence, with Becky staring fixedly at the ground as she waited for Joe to let go. The moment stretched out painfully until she felt his hands tighten ever-so-slightly. Startled, Becky lifted wide sapphire eyes up to get a glimpse of Joe's fathomless green gaze. Then he spun away, leaving with Adam to unhitch the horses and secure the surrey.

"Come on, Becky," Eve said softly, "We're going to want to check on Ma and the twins." The brunette's arm wound around the blond's shoulders and Becky found herself steered into the house, where the young women heard from Mother MacGruder and Hop Sing that the children had been well-behaved and had just gone to bed. Becky's sister-in-law drew her closer to the fireplace.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Eve asked in a low voice. Rebecca glanced up at the taller woman, a bit startled.

"There's nothing to talk about." she insisted, unable to keep her face from flooding with heat. Eve's cocoa-colored eyes stared levelly at the younger woman but then she shrugged.

"If you change your mind, then," Eve told her simply, "I'll be happy to lend an ear." Becky mumbled a hasty "good night" and fled to the sanctuary of her bedroom.

OUT IN THE barn, Adam and Joe were grooming the horses and bedding them down for the night in a silence that was also rather unusual. The elder Cartwright was waiting for the younger one to begin speaking. Since Joe didn't seem to be forthcoming, however, Adam spoke up.

"All right, Joe," he said firmly, "Would you mind telling me how it is that I get dragged from dancing with my wife to find you trying to beat the tar out of one of the best friends you have in Virginia City?"

"No." the youngest of the Cartwright brothers refused. Adam's eyes narrowed in Joe's direction.

"Listen, Joe," Adam said in a tone that smacked of him fighting to keep a rein on some temper, then went into a diatribe about how, while it was all fine and good that Joe was taking his brotherly duties towards Becky to heart enough to worry about her reputation, both she and Rob were grown people and deserved the benefit of the doubt before Joe jumped in and acted the way he had.

Well, at least, that's what Joe assumed that Adam had likely started pontificating about—he couldn't be one-hundred-percent sure as all he really heard was "Listen, Joe, blah blah blah." Joe's thoughts turned completely inward, because he knew that it hadn't been "brotherly duty" or even "defense of honor" that had prompted him to assault poor Rob...

He had been dancing with about a dozen or two different girls at the Muellers' party, trying to prove to himself that his emerging feelings for Becky were trivial. Joe was determined to confirm that he was still a fancy-free ladies' man and had, in fact, been sneaking out to the "privacy" of outside in order to steal a kiss or two from Marietta when she giggled and pointed out that the same idea had apparently occurred to Rob. Joe had looked over to see the girl that Rob was managing to claim a quick buss or two from...and saw that it was Becky.

Suddenly he was consumed in an inferno of jealousy. How _dare _Rob kiss Becky?

Joe had nearly said as much out loud, as well, for everyone had heard him yell at the man who was a very dear friend of his: "You can't _do_ that! She's my—"

Just about everyone heard him cut himself off, and so would assume that his last word was "my"...as in "she's my sister." However, Joe knew that he hadn't been about to say _that_ at all. His interrupted sentence was: "She's mi—"...as in "she's _mine!"_

Not the kind of sentiment a brother was supposed to express about his sister. Right now, Joe was equating himself with the horridly lustful Lug Dawson, and he didn't need to hear Adam join the chorus of self-condemnation.

"...after all, if you can get away with the odd kiss or two from the girls you see," Adam was saying, "Then you should trust that Becky can do the same. Of course, if she ever calls on you for help—"

"I'll apologize to them." Joe said suddenly. Adam paused, giving his younger brother a penetrating look. "I'll apologize to Becky and then I'll find Rob tomorrow and say I'm sorry to him, too."

"Good." Adam said with a nod. Both men turned their attention back to bedding down the horses for the night, the older one feeling that the matter had been settled.

The younger one felt that he'd be lucky to get any sleep at all tonight.

BECKY CHECKED IN on the innocently-slumbering twins and went to her room, swiftly changing into her flannel nightgown. Nights were definitely getting cooler in this part of Nevada and flannel was a must, although it hadn't yet gotten cool to the point of adding the mob cap to the ensemble. As she brushed out her hair, there was a knock at the door.

"Becky?" Eve's voice asked. "May I come in?"

"Yes, of course." The door opened and the older female came in, closing the door behind her before joining Becky by sitting beside her on the edge of her bed.

"I figured maybe it was time to lend that ear of mine." Eve told her with a smile.

"How's your mother?" Becky asked quickly, forestalling the obvious questions that the quick-witted brunette was bound to ask her. Eve looked at the blond for a moment.

"She's fine, thank you." Eve replied. "Becky...are _you _all right? That was a rather upsetting fight."

"I'm fine, really!" Becky insisted. "Rob didn't do anything, honest! He kissed me...and we were pulling apart when...when..." The younger woman shrugged. "I don't know why Joe did that. I could tell that Rob was going to escort me right back inside...it was a nice kiss, but nothing either of us were looking for...if you know what I mean." Becky's sapphire eyes looked beseechingly at Eve.

"You mean you're not in love with Rob." the brunette said baldly.

"Right...we could both tell _that_ after we kissed." Becky agreed. "We don't love each other."

"You should tell Joe." Eve advised. Becky shrugged a shoulder, glancing off to her left.

"I...I don't see how it's any of his business."

"Becky, he was willing to attack his best friend because—"

"Because he jumped to some silly conclusion." Becky cut Eve off. "I don't owe Joe any explanations...not when he was dancing with every other girl at the party!" Her sister-in-law blinked.

"What does _that _have to do—"

"I'll think about what you said, then." Becky said in a rush. "I...I'm tired now, Eve...I'd like to go to sleep, if you please." The brunette hesitated, but then got to her feet with a nod.

"All right, then, Becky." Eve said, retreating to the door. "Good night."

"Good night." Becky answered, bending over the lamp in her room and blowing it out before climbing into her bed. She, too, had a hard time getting to sleep that night.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_Late Afternoon, Wednesday, October 22, 1862, Callahan Station, east of Virginia City, Nevada_

THE MOMENT BEN and Cassandra Cartwright stepped off the stagecoach, their entire blended family knew something was horribly wrong. There was a queasy sort of cast to their pale faces when they descended—an expression that Becky immediately recognized due to her experience with carriage-sick passengers of the stageline.

"Naomi, Joe—_move!"_ the blond barked, hurrying over to the vehicle and quickly noting that her mother and step-father had been accompanied on the trip by another four people in the coach. Joe found himself seized by one hand and pulled out of the way as both Cassie and Ben swept past him with all due haste, not saying a word. He exchanged startled glances with Adam, who was likewise surprised at the behavior—until the other passengers fairly ran after the first couple, following Becky's directions that there were privies behind the station.

"What in the world..?" Adam began to ask, but was interrupted when Jake, the driver of the stagecoach, jumped down from the conveyance, took several tottering steps in the same direction as the passengers—and then suddenly bent over, getting forcibly sick.

"_That's_ not good," Eve pointed out the obvious.

"Gabe—get the dish towels and come back here with them," Becky ordered her little brother. "Hurry!" While the boy ran to do as he'd been bid, the young woman went to where Jake was coughing and attempting to straighten back up again. "No...wait until you're sure you're done—don't try to talk yet." Gabe reappeared with an armful of linens.

"Thank you, Gabe," Becky said, plucking one up from the bunch. "You'd best go see if the other passengers need the rest of them."

"Yes'm!" the boy agreed and hurried after the path the other passengers had taken.

"I'll go with you," Naomi offered, accompanying her twin. The stagecoach driver took the towel that Becky offered him, straightening up and wiping his mouth and face.

"Thank ya, girl!" Jake said in a slightly shaky voice.

"You're welcome," Becky replied. "But...what happened? I didn't think your driving was that bad." The somewhat-grizzled man smiled briefly.

"Oh, no, m'drivin's just dandy, hon," he assured her, "But your Mama figures that the food from the last station may have been tainted. We alla us ate lunch there...an' we alla us have been gettin' sick as dogs. Had to make at least three unscheduled stops."

"Oh, dear," Becky sighed. "How are you now?"

"Shaky, girl, but I'll live," the driver said. Becky gestured toward the station.

"Go on and sit down inside," she told him. "I'll see about the passengers and brew up some ginger tea...that ought to help settle peoples' stomachs."

"Need help with that?" Eve offered.

"If you could check up on the people," Becky replied, "I can get to brewing the tea faster."

"I'll help you, too," Mercy, who had been invited to be there to meet Ben and Cassie on their return home, chimed in. The brunette nodded to the schoolmarm and beckoned Mercy to follow, striding off after the twins, while Becky hastened into the station.

"I suspect that this gathering will be moved indoors," Adam said, then bowed to his mother-in-law. "If you'll kindly allow me, Mother MacGruder, I'll just help you into the station..?"

"Thank you kindly, Adam," the older woman acknowledged with a nod. Some time later, everyone was inside the public room of the station, where Cassie and Ben were finally welcomed home.

"Oh, look at you...your cast is off!" the silvered blond woman fussed over Naomi, hugging her and then Gabe. "And _you_...why, you must have grown half a foot while I was gone! You're going to be as tall as your brother very soon!" Ben, meanwhile, was engaging in a more masculine kind of welcome, taking the hands of each of his sons in turn and briefly pounding on their backs, grateful to be closer to home.

"Pa," Adam said with a warm smile as he reached out and drew Eve to his side, "This is your new daughter-in-law." Ben looked down at the feisty brunette his family had known practically since they'd first settled on the Ponderosa, noting that the perennial tomboy seemed to be gone, for she was wearing a tone-on-tone green gown with floral patterns on it.

"Welcome to the family, JJ," Ben greeted her earnestly. She beamed up at him.

"It's 'Eve'...Pa." she replied a bit bashfully, a blush coming to her cheeks. Ben was delighted and scooped his newest daughter up in a tight hug, kissing the young lady on her cheek as she laughed and hugged him back. Ben's dark eyes appraised his eldest son even as he was exchanging this greeting with Eve. Yes, it seemed that marriage certainly agreed with Adam, for there was something in the younger man's stance that seemed to Ben to be a bit different, something that Ben could not quite define at the moment. The patriarch of the Cartwright clan released Eve.

"Pa, this is Mother MacGruder," Adam said, and Ben's eyebrows elevated at the vastly-changed woman now wheeling herself forward.

"Elvira! It's been far too long!" the silver-maned rancher bent and took her hand, smiling down at the female before him. The last time Ben had ever seen Eve's mother, it had been before the woman had contracted polio—but even then, Elvira MacGruder had been a rather subdued sort of person. The woman in the wheelchair, however, was bright-eyed and exuding an easy-going confidence that Ben didn't recall her ever really possessing before. It was a wonderful change.

"Ben, welcome back," Elvira responded with a wide smile. "It sure is a relief to know our children have finally done their God-given duty." Adam smirked and Eve rolled her cocoa-colored eyes.

"We'll be able to relax about that when we all come together to celebrate the appearance of the newest generation of Cartwrights," Ben said in a distinctively unsubtle hint, smiling to note that both Adam and Eve flushed.

"Pa," Hoss interrupted, drawing his father's attention to himself and the familiar jet-tressed woman with him, "Pa...I'd like you to meet Miss Mercy Harris. Mercy, this is my Pa, Ben Cartwright." Ben took the hand of the pretty young lady whom his middle son was obviously enamored of...as she was of Hoss, if Ben's judgment was not faulty.

"Delighted, Miss Harris," Ben told her. "I trust you've sufficiently recovered from your arrival in Virginia City?" He was referring to the event that had originally brought her to the attention of not just Hoss but all of the male Cartwrights: Mercy's being taken hostage by a conman on the run from single-minded bounty hunters.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Since then, life in Virginia City has been nigh on boring, which is just fine with me." Ben smiled and nodded, then turned his attention to where the twins were still fussing over their mother.

"Well, now, I've just got back from a long trip out East, too—where are _my_ hugs and kisses..?" he demanded in mock petulance. The twins paused, looking at each other with rounded eyes before launching themselves at Ben, who went down on one knee, his arms opened wide to receive them.

"Welcome home, welcome home!" the children chorused, both of them hugging the man tightly. Cassandra smiled at the sight, then turned to kiss the cheek of first Becky and then Joe.

"It's wonderful to be back," she said, then belched. "Oh, excuse me!"

"I made ginger tea, Mama." Becky said, going to the table where the tea kettle had been placed. "It should help you a bit." The younger blond poured out a cup and gave it to Cassie, who took it, thanking her.

"So, young man," Cassandra said to Joe in a no-nonsense voice, "You've had your eye on my daughter?" Joe froze, his eyes widening in horror—his own stepmother had taken one look at him and immediately discerned his decidedly _unbrotherly_ thoughts about Becky? He was doomed!

"Ma'am..?" he managed to squeak out while Cassie sipped her tea.

"You've been looking out for Becky," the older woman clarified. "At least...Zach told me that he'd specifically asked you to do so—he _did,_ didn't he?"

"Oh...ohhhhhh...why, uh...yes...ahem..._yes,_ ma'am! He did."

"And you _have,_ haven't you?"

"Yes, Mama...he has," Becky answered when Joe's voice seemed to have deserted him.

"Thank you so much for that, Joe," Cassie said gratefully. The youngest Cartwright brother nodded, avoiding the gaze of both his stepmother and his stepsister. Cassie's gray eyes narrowed but she merely sipped at her tea once more and then went to give her personal greetings to the others.

Ben looked around at the gathering, feeling a swell of paternal pride as he counted up the members of his present family: his wife Cassandra; his son Adam and Adam's wife and mother-in-law, Eve and Elvira, respectively; his son Hoss...and, perhaps, future fiancée, Mercy Harris; his son Joe; his daughter Rebecca; and his twins, Gabriel and Naomi, too.

"We shall have a very full house back on the Ponderosa," Ben noted, smiling broadly. He saw responding grins from everyone in the family who had remained in Nevada while he and Cassandra had gone off on their honeymoon.

"We should be getting you and Mama back to the house," Adam pointed out. "Hop Sing stayed there in order to make you a special meal to welcome you home, and we'll need to tell him about your unexpected illness."

The blended family filled two surreys and three individual horses, as Adam, Hoss and Joe were riding their own mounts. Eve drove one surrey that contained herself, her mother, Mercy and the wheelchair that Mother MacGruder used. The other surrey was driven by Becky and contained Ben and Cassandra, along with the twins. The procession had been moving along for a few miles when Ben suddenly realized that they were taking a more roundabout route to the main house: the road they were traveling went closer to the lake than the house was located.

"Becky...why are we going this way?" he asked. "The eastern road is shorter." The young blond with the reins grinned at her stepfather.

"You'll see in a bit, sir," she replied, her sapphire eyes dancing. Cassandra's eyebrows elevated as she exchanged glances with her husband, clearly intrigued with the secret being held. Even the twins had knowing smiles on their faces.

"This should be interesting," Cassie remarked. Ben chuffed a breath, his curiosity definitely piqued. It wasn't too long afterwards that the mystery was solved—well, at least visually, for the family pulled into a cleared area that was next to the lake. Ben had to concentrate to remember why the site seemed familiar to him, then he blinked in surprise.

"What is it, Ben?" Cassandra asked him.

"It's...Adam's house, if I'm not mistaken," he answered, looking around. "But...it's not the one I remember being here."

"You're right, you're right!" Gabe crowed. "It's Adam's house—it's his new house!" Both of the twins were bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Let's go see! Let's go see!" urged Naomi. Becky, still grinning, pulled the surrey to a stop next to where the three lone horses were already tethered to a hitching rail. The other surrey stopped behind them.

"I seem to recall a slightly different building here, though, Adam," Ben said as he got out and, because they were literally jumping at him to get out of the surrey, swung first Naomi and then Gabe out of the vehicle before helping his wife to the ground.

"The one that had been here wasn't sound any longer," Adam explained, approaching the surrey that had his own wife and mother-in-law in it, "So I tore it down and started over. What do you think?" Ben cast his eye over the log building: it was larger than the house that had occupied the site before it. It looked to be about sixty feet long and built in a U-shape, its main entrance in the middle and the two arms of the "U" extending forward so that a sort of courtyard was formed in front of the double doors leading into the house. The front of the house had a wonderful view of the lake, while the back of the house had an equally wonderful view of the mountains.

"Well done, son," Ben approved. "You're building it with two stories?"

"It's framed out for that," Adam said, helping Mother MacGruder into the wheelchair he'd removed from the surrey. "For the time being, we'll be living on the ground floor, as that's just about finished now."

"You and Eve?"

"And Mother MacGruder, yes," Adam confirmed, now holding out his hand to help Eve down from the surrey. "I figure Eve and I can move in over the next few days. We've decided we wanted to make sure we had that indoor facility working before having Mother MacGruder join us."

"Indoor facility?" Ben asked, again intrigued. His eldest son smiled at him.

"Follow us, we'll show you," Adam invited. Everyone in the group followed the young newlyweds as they conducted a tour of the ground floor of the house.

The double doors in the front could open up to reveal a large doorway that was about six feet or so wide, although Adam anticipated only usually opening one door. The one door was made wide enough to allow the wheelchair to pass through it without any problem. Stepping into the house, Ben and Cassandra saw that Adam had created a large, roomy space that looked to be about twenty-five or so feet deep from the front door to the large fieldstone fireplace in the middle of the rear wall. The room was about thirty feet wide, but the huge space wasn't overwhelming due to the fact that the ceiling was about ten feet or so overhead, unlike the cathedral height of the great room of the main house back at the Ponderosa. Facing the fireplace—which was every bit as large as the one at the main house, maybe even larger—there was a large window to the left, and a door that led out to the back on the right. To the right of the back door was a set of rough stairs leading to the upper story.

"The roof's tight and there are the supporting walls upstairs," Adam explained, "But it's really unfinished. We need to make the ground floor livable first." Next to the stairs that led up was a room that was about fifteen feet square, although it seemed to Ben that it may have been a foot or two longer on one of the dimensions. Next to this was a room that very much resembled some that Ben and Cassie had seen during their stay in New Haven.

"Indoor facility..." Cassie echoed Adam's phrase from earlier, "...Adam...have you managed to build a bathroom in your house?" Eve beamed proudly.

"He read about a washout closet and we're putting it into place here," she announced. "We've gotten the bathtub and a sink, as you can see, but the washout itself is still on its way from St. Joseph. It should arrive by the end of next week...we hope."

"And this would work?" Ben asked speculatively. Adam gave a nod of his head.

"From what I can see of the plans, Pa, it's definitely workable," he answered.

"The ones in New Haven worked..." Cassie reminded her husband, "...although the city has a pumping system in place for water distribution. It will be a vast improvement over an outhouse, though, if your washout closet works."

The last room to the right of the entrance was a large twenty-foot-square chamber that faced the lake. Eve explained that this room was slated to be Mother MacGruder's bedroom, while the smaller room on the other side of the soon-to-be working bathroom would be Adam and Eve's bedroom.

"Only until we can get the upstairs finished," Adam said. "Then it will become our study." The tour continued, outlining the spaces that made up the other side of the U-shaped floor plan. The rear of that side of the house was a huge kitchen area. From the rearmost wall was another set of stairs that led up, then a space that Eve said would contain a nice big table and chairs, and then the working area of the kitchen. There was a door that lead to an archway, beyond which lay a twenty-foot-square room that was earmarked to become the dining room.

"We wanted to be sure it would be large enough to have all of us sit down and eat—and we plan to have you over quite often," Eve explained. Ben murmured an aside to Adam:

"Or big enough for you and all the children you plan to have..?" Adam gave his father an oblique look, but Ben smiled slyly, having caught the glint of approval in the hazel depths of his son's eyes. Eve, oblivious, was chattering on about the experimental system for using hot water to help heat the house and how it was supposed to work.

"I can see why you've made the house this big," Ben said approvingly. "Elvira won't have to depend on others to get her around the place for the most part." Adam nodded.

"That was the idea, yes."

"So..." Ben said in a low voice after quickly checking to make sure that his wife was paying attention to what Eve was saying, "...did you receive the delivery I told you to expect?"

"Yes, sir," Adam assured him with a faint smile. "Joe and Hoss helped me get everything into place and Becky made sure that all of Mama's things got put away. It's all there, waiting for you." The older man nodded, smiling in anticipation of what was to come. Meanwhile, Adam and Ben weren't the only ones drawing a bit to one side in a private conversation.

"Mrs. MacGruder is going to have lovely views from her room," Mercy remarked to Hoss, who was totally oblivious to the talk about washout engineering and heating systems...mostly because Mercy was clinging rather nicely to his arm and smiling at him. She noticed that the others were absorbed in the information that Eve was imparting, and thought that perhaps this would be a good time to tell Hoss what he needed to know—he was surrounded by his entire family, and so, should the news prove too distressing to him, would have ample emotional support. The schoolteacher opened her mouth to begin her confession.

"Mercy, would you kindly allow me to take you to dinner this Saturday evening?" Hoss asked in a rush. The young lady faltered...then nodded.

"I should love that, Hoss, thank you," she agreed, but before she could continue on with her intentions, he added:

"Dress up as fancy as you like, Mercy, 'cuz I wanna take you to the Coat Dayzoor. It's one of them fancy kinds of French restaurants."

"The _Côte__ D'Azur?"_ Mercy echoed, having heard of the establishment.

"Yup, that's the one."

"Well...all right, Hoss, if that's what you want."

The big man was beaming so brightly that Mercy lost her nerve to follow through with her plan and remained silent about her past. Soon the group got back into their surreys and onto their horses and resumed the trip to the Ponderosa, where Hop Sing ran out to greet them, his face wreathed in smiles.

"Welcome, honorable Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright!" he said with a very low bow. "It warms my heart to see you both home in safety and good...health..?" The greeting that the cook had been practicing for the last few weeks faltered to a stop when the recipients suddenly had to rush past him in a race for the outhouse.

"Don't be upset, Hop Sing," Eve assured the stricken oriental. "Unfortunately Mama and Pa had some bad food at the last stop...it's nothing to do with you." Hop Sing's face cleared.

"Ahhh...I must get ginger...avocado leaf..." he murmured and immediately set off to do so. The rest of the group broke up to get various things done—the horses had to all be tended to and the last-minute details completed for the welcome-home meal that Hop Sing had prepared.

Ben and Cassie returned to the house, Ben leading his bride up the stairs to the room he would be sharing with her from now on. Cassandra's protesting stomach kept her from noticing that he was grinning with anticipation. He drew her to the door and opened it, leading her into the room as she untied the chin straps to the bonnet she was wearing.

"I surely hope that the ginger tea can help out, Ben," Cassie said, pulling the hat from her head, "Or I fear I shall have to...disappoint..." The woman's voice trailed off as she looked around the room, her eyes widening at the familiar furniture that now occupied it: the hand-carved mahogany bedroom set that had been in the room they'd spent their wedding night in.

"Ben Cartwright!" she gasped. "How in the world did you manage..?" Ben grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to the bed with its beautiful and distinctive woodland scene surmounted by the elegantly carved, entwined initials "B" and "C".

"Do you like it, Treasure?" he asked anxiously. Cassandra turned her face up to her husband's and smiled.

"It's a completely unexpected and totally romantic surprise, Ben, my love," she told him. "And if it weren't for the fact that all of our children and their guests were downstairs, I would thank you most properly for your generosity. However, you will have to be satisfied with this for now." The blond woman put her hand to his cheek and leaned toward him in a sweet kiss that she broke off all too soon.

"We _could _tell them we're feeling too ill to—"

"_Ben!"_

"Just a suggestion, Treasure...just a suggestion."

HOP SING'S HOME remedy utilizing the ginger and leaves of avocado proved efficacious, so both Ben and Cassandra were able to eat with the rest of the family. For the most part, the twins dominated the conversation with their questions about how Zach had gotten his position with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the sights that Ben and Cassie had seen while traveling across the country. This was tolerated for the most part as everyone well knew that the children would be having to go to bed the soonest, as well as the fact that everyone also wanted to hear of the tales.

After the children reluctantly went to bed, Ben and Cassandra listened to the recounting of the events they had not been present for. Neither of them welcomed hearing about how Lug Dawson had tried attacking Becky in the way station stable nor how he had attempted to harm Joe during the Fall Festival Steeplechase.

"Roy hasn't been able to get his hands on Dawson at all?" Ben asked, frowning. Joe shook his head.

"Not for lack of trying," Joe informed his father. "But the Dawsons make their living from their traps, and Roy figures that they're selling in Carson City just to avoid him...and us."

"That would be the most logical thing for Lug to do," Eve pointed out. "Probably figures that everything will die down by next year."

"He'll be in for an unpleasant surprise, then," Ben said gruffly. "However, we'll leave that to the sheriff. Roy's a good man and a very capable officer of the law. He'll see justice done." Adam shifted, catching Eve's eye and briefly considering telling the head of the family about the news of Gertrude Trent's death. His wife glanced pointedly at Mercy Harris, however, so Adam decided to wait on that bit of distressing news, instead recounting the first instance of needing to discipline Gabriel. Everyone was in stitches at the comic scene he painted of Gabe, Hoss and Joe sledding out through the open door of the house as Adam hastily leaped out of the way.

"Gabriel hasn't been misbehaving on a regular basis, has he?" Cassandra asked. "I was anticipating that he might cause you some trouble..."

"No, he hasn't," Adam assured her. "Oh, he's been in the odd scrape or two...but he's actually been a very well-behaved boy. The story I just related is actually the only real time that Gabriel needed to be taken in hand." Which was true as far as Adam was concerned.

Even as the developments of events were discussed amongst the family, Mercy leaned a bit closer to Hoss.

"I must teach school tomorrow," she told him regretfully. "So I have to go back to town." Hoss nodded, moving to get to his feet, but Joe offered to hitch up the surrey for him and left. Mercy and Hoss remained for a bit longer, listening to the exchange of news, which had gotten up to the part about how the shivaree had appeared at the house.

"None of us were expecting that at all," Eve was saying with a bit of a grimace.

"I should say not—over three dozen men, you say, Adam?" Ben asked. Joe came in at that point.

"Surrey's all set for you, Hoss," he announced. Mercy bid everyone farewell and was soon on her way to town with Hoss driving the vehicle.

"Hoss..." the jet-tressed beauty beside him said, "...I don't quite understand...what exactly is a shivaree..?" Hoss shifted a bit.

"Well..." he answered slowly, "...a shivaree...it's sort of a party...after a couple gets married."

"You mean it's the wedding party?"

"Um...no. It's...after that."

Mercy had to think for a moment.

"I still don't understand—why would a newly-married couple have a party after their wedding party? That's rather redundant."

"Redundant..?" prompted Hoss, glancing over in time to appreciate the pucker that Mercy formed as she searched for words.

"Mmmm...inordinate...superfluous...repetitious..." the young lady listed, "...well—it's one party too many—but I don't understand _why_ the newlyweds would want a shivaree." Hoss mulled over how to put the exact circumstances of the often-bawdy celebration to her.

"A shivaree isn't exactly something that the couple would _want..."_ he explained slowly, "...see, a bunch of fellas get together right after the couple leave the wedding party, an' they all go pay the newlyweds a visit—just to...uh...serenade 'em."

"But the couple was just at the party," Mercy pointed out. "Why not sing to them _then?"_

"Because the shivaree is supposed to...uh..." Hoss floundered, his face getting red as he realized what he was going to have to tell Mercy—and they weren't even an official couple yet. "...um...that is, the fellas are actually sort of interrupting...um..." The schoolmarm gasped suddenly.

"Hoss Cartwright!" she exclaimed. "You mean to tell me that a shivaree follows the couple—on their wedding night—to _deliberately_ interrupt the honeymoon?"

"Only for as long as it takes for them to sing a song and get beer money," the big man answered in a rush. Mercy stared at him, her emerald eyes rounded.

"So..." she said slowly, "...you're telling me that people who get married around here can expect to have their wedding night interrupted by a group of men who will embarrass them until they are plied with drink?" Hoss squirmed on his seat.

"Well...that's pretty much it, yeah," he agreed with Mercy's definition.

"Your father and Miss Callahan—oops, I mean, _his wife_—they didn't have a shivaree."

"No," Hoss admitted, "Pa an' Mama got married and left right away, or some of the fellas woulda come calling, I'm sure."

"But Adam and Eve had a shivaree," Mercy continued, "A rather unexpected and large one, from what I heard?" Again the man beside her shifted a bit on the seat as they drove along.

"Adam was being a mite conservative when he told Pa there were three dozen men at his shivaree," Hoss confirmed. "By the time I was able to get 'em all to the Bucket of Blood, there were about fifty fellas in the crowd...an' that didn't include the men already at the saloon, who all had a drink on Adam and Eve." Mercy glanced at him again.

"You were at the shivaree?"

"Well...I had to lead the fellas away from the house," Hoss said hastily. "I wasn't one o' the fellas that planned it, but there wasn't any way I'd let them fellas ruin Adam's wedding night." Once again his face flamed, but Hoss held his head up in spite of the sensitive subject. Mercy looked up at him for a moment and then smiled.

"I love you, Hoss Cartwright," she said simply, nuzzling her cheek into his arm as she snuggled tightly against it. If it wasn't so late already, Hoss would have stopped the surrey right then and made romantic use of the minuscule sliver of moon available as light...but Mercy had to teach school in the morning. He clucked to the horses and sped the vehicle on its way with a very light heart, though, knowing that he fully intended to soon be prevailing upon the services of Adam and Little Joe to help divert the attention of his own shivaree.

Provided he received the right answer from Mercy this Saturday night after dinner.


	8. Author's Interlude

Don't worry, dear readers, you're not missing anything. It's just that enough people have PM'ed me that I feel that there are a number of things I need to address regarding this installment of the Bridal Bonanza series of fanfiction stories:

First: Thank you so, so, SO much for taking the time to review any of the installments! I'm tickled that you do that and it definitely stokes my ego to hear your particular points-of-view.

Second: No, it is NOT your imagination-I have not been as detailed as I have been previously in regards to how the encounters between the married Cartwright men and their wives unfold. This is because I am now posting the chapters one at a time...and (embarassingly) I have no blessed idea how to change the Age Appropriate Ratings for individual chapters. So, since I don't know, and I've already posted this story as a more Family Friendly Rating...I'm going to stick to the "fade to black" approach. Besides, you all have imaginations that are MUCH more fertile than anything I could write, so feel free to fill in those blanks with whatever you choose! ;D

Third: Did I say "thank you" for reading? THANK YOU FOR READING! I love the numbers this new "Traffic Stats" portion of the website has. I never imagined that there were sooooo many fans of **Bonanza** still out there!

And now I'll go and go on with the story!

Dilly

8)


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER "NINE" (Actually it's CHAPTER EIGHT, But the previous Author's Interlude was Auto-numbered 8, so here you go...)  
**

CASSANDRA PAUSED FOR a moment, breathing a bit heavily as she leaned down, regarding the sudsy, opaque wash water in the large, circular tub. She was, ostensibly, helping with the laundry—since this chore had to be done by hand, it was a task that all the women present in the household were helping out with. They were just outside the rear of the house: Cassie was in charge of washing the clothing, Mother MacGruder was rinsing them and JJ—no, Cassie corrected herself, _Eve_—was taking the wet clothes, wringing them and hanging them out to dry. It was hot, steamy work best done outdoors while the weather permitted.

No aspect of the chore was easy...washing required using rather harsh soap and the utilization of a washboard. Rinsing required stirring the soapy clothing in a tub with a long paddle. The final step—that of wringing the clothes and hanging them to dry—was made a bit simpler by use of a crank-operated wringer. Still, it was tiresome, back-breaking work and Cassie was being duly reminded by it that she was no longer in the flush of her youth.

She certainly _didn't_ like the reminder.

"Ya aren't ailin', are ya?" Mother MacGruder asked, eying Cassie as she swept the back of one hand over a slightly-damp forehead.

"Well...not really," the blond replied. "Just a bit winded...laundry is _not_ my favorite thing to do for an entire morning."

"I hear ya there," Elvira nodded her agreement as Eve plucked up a pair of pants from the basket beside the rinse tub and then stepped over to the wringer, carefully feeding the garment between the rollers as she cranked the handle.

"We can change places if you want, Cassie," the brunette offered. "Standing over steamy water can sap a body...although squeezing out water and then holding up heavy, wet clothing to get them to hang on a clothesline isn't much of an improvement over that."

"True," Cassandra's mouth quirked...then she burped, stifling a groan. Eve's cocoa-colored eyes glanced over.

"That tainted food still bothering you?" the younger woman asked, concerned.

"Unfortunately, yes," Cassie sighed, returning to scrubbing a shirt on the washboard in front of her. "Oh, it's not as bad as when we first got back, but I keep bringing up gas once in a while and my stomach gets unsettled." Mother MacGruder pulled up the long paddle she was using to stir the rinsing clothes with and inspected the union suit dangling from the end of it.

"Ben don't seem to be bothered none by it no more," Elvira observed, pulling the union suit off the paddle, which she perched at the side of her tub before taking the rinsed garment and squeezing some of the water out of it, then plopping it into the basket from which Eve would be getting her supply of clothing to wring. Cassie snorted and rolled her gray eyes skyward.

"Ben was over his indigestion by dawn the day after," the blond said, aggrieved. "He had the nerve to chuckle at me when I had to run to the outhouse this morning...that...that..._man!"_ Eve and her mother shared a grin at Cassie's fuming over her husband's constitution. Then all three of them returned to finishing up the laundry.

MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE ON the Ponderosa, the Cartwright men were in the midst of culling the herd in preparation for the winter months—picking that cattle which they would keep and separating out the cattle that would be sold or slaughtered for their own use. Most of the culling had already been done by the Cartwright sons, but there were over ten thousand head on the Ponderosa, so there was still a bit of work to do to finish up that job before the snowy weather manifested itself.

Ben reined his horse Buck to a stop at the top of a rise and cast a justifiably-proud eye over the scene below him: Adam, Hoss and Joe working together to make sure that the ranch retained the very best of its cattle in order to make the herd even better by next spring. His sons surely made running a ranch of the Ponderosa's size much easier. The silver-maned rancher noticed the chestnut horse bearing Adam trotting up the incline towards him.

"We're about finished with this group, although we've still got that lot in Paintbox Canyon to cull," the eldest son said after coming into range. He shifted in his saddle. "Pa, I was just thinking...we probably ought to take the opportunity to cut a few extra head from the herd...that way we can be sure we'll have enough food on hand for the party."

"Party? What party?" Ben asked, hiding a grin as he was relatively sure of the motives for the celebration that Adam was proposing. The younger Cartwright's lips twitched.

"The party celebrating your marriage to Cassie," Adam said. "And mine to Eve."

"_And _my engagement to Mercy..." Hoss' voice interrupted, with the big man adding a bit sheepishly, "...I hope." Ben looked at his middle son, more surprised by his announcement than by the fact that Ben hadn't seen or heard Hoss approaching.

"You _hope_..." echoed Ben, "...but you aren't sure? You haven't asked her yet?"

"No, sir," Hoss said, a smile quirking his own mouth. "I wanted to let you know what I'm fixing to do first. Mercy's agreed to take dinner with me this Saturday evening...I'll be asking her then. If she says yes, Pa, I'm of a mind to settle us in the hunting cabin at the south end of the lake." Ben contemplated for a moment, recalling the two-room structure.

"It's in reasonable condition, as I recall," the older man conceded. "A bit small, though, for you and a bride to be living in..." Hoss grinned brightly.

"I seem to recall you, me an' Adam living in a glorified lean-to when we first settled on the Ponderosa," the sandy-haired man pointed out. "But I'm pretty sure that I'll have next spring to fix up the cabin or even add on a room or two."

"You wouldn't be getting married right away?" asked Adam.

"I'd hitch up with Mercy tonight if she was of a mind to," Hoss replied firmly. "But she's the new teacher in Virginia City...I remember Mr. Foster making a big fuss that any lady teachers had to agree to teach for at least one entire school year, or the town would lose 'em."

The last teacher that Virginia City had hired had also been a woman. At first she'd had a bit of a problem getting the respect of her students—something Adam had aided the young lady in achieving—but then the primary problem that often plagued frontier schools had reared its ugly head: in view of the dearth of unmarried women in the prime of their child-bearing years, keeping a female teacher was extremely difficult. Mercy's predecessor had married and left the position available in May, forcing the school to close early for the year. This was what had caused Foster to insist on the ironclad "work for no less than one school year" clause to be added to the contract between Mercy and Virginia City.

"That's understandable," Ben reluctantly agreed.

"I'm figuring for a July wedding if she'll have me," Hoss added with a rather dreamy expression on his face. Ben and Adam exchanged grins.

"There's no reason in the world she could possibly refuse you, son," Ben said sincerely. "She seems like a fine young lady to me." Just then the sound of hoof beats approached.

"Say, am I gonna have to cull this part of the herd all by myself?" Joe demanded jokingly. "Seems to me you three are sitting around, thinking of new ways to waste time."

"Now what were we thinking?" Adam replied. "That's _your _job." For a moment Joe blinked, then all four Cartwrights laughed and got back to work. Ben and Adam filled Joe in on the plans for the intended party as Hoss continued to smile in anticipation of his impending dinner date with Mercy.

MERCY HARRIS WAS observing her class as they worked on their tests—at least, that was what she was supposed to be doing. More than one of her students noticed that the dark-haired schoolmarm was, in fact, daydreaming...it was actually rather obvious due to the ephemeral expression on her face that (had anyone been able to see both people at the very same time) was the twin to Hoss' own smile that day.

Hoss was getting serious, she just _knew _he was. The _Côte__ D'Azur_ was the fanciest restaurant in Virginia City...she had only one dress that could possibly be considered up to snuff for such surroundings—a peacock blue gown embellished with black lace. Lucky for her she still had her grandmother's pearl necklace and earrings to go along with it, or she would have doubtless been considered woefully under-dressed for the occasion. Would he like her in that gown, though? Perhaps she should stop at the mercantile after school today and see about getting some fancy appliqués to further embellish the dress with..?

"Excuse me, please, Miss Harris?" a voice broke into her thoughts and Mercy turned startled emerald eyes upon Millicent Graham, the oldest female student in the classroom.

"Yes, Millicent?" Mercy replied.

"We've all finished our tests, Miss Harris," the teenager replied. "You said we could have our meal time early once everyone was done." The older woman blinked, then looked around at the students in the room. All sixteen of them were, indeed, finished with their tests and sitting with leashed impatience.

"Oh, dear me!" Mercy exclaimed, then chuckled. "Well, Millicent, you're quite correct—everyone is done...so everyone may go outside for lunch." The children all cheered and immediately evacuated the schoolroom. The jet-tressed lady they left behind laughed at her own romantic preoccupation and took up the test papers to begin grading them.

Outside in the schoolyard, Gabriel and Naomi were emptying their lunch pails of their contents: savory meat rolls made by their Mama—today's biscuit layer was stuffed with ham, cheese, carrots and celery. There were jars of lemonade to drink, along with apples and a double portion of Hop Sing's molasses cookies.

"There are enough to share, Gabey!" Naomi pointed out about the cookies. "I'm gonna give some to Betsy Parker!" Her brother swallowed the bite of meat roll he'd already taken.

"I think I'll share with Hector Perski," Gabriel decided. "He's the one that gave us that clover for Petey." His twin nodded, recalling that their pet had loved the sweet plants when they'd fed the stuff to the one-eyed pygmy rabbit.

In order to facilitate giving their chosen beneficiaries the extra cookies, Gabriel and Naomi invited Hector and Betsy to sit with them so that they could eat their lunches together.

"Gosh, Gabe," Hector said happily as he munched one of the cookies, "You an' Naomi are awful lucky to have your Mama an' good ol' Hop Sing makin' you your lunches! This is _yummy!"_

"Oh, yeah...we 're really lucky Uncle Ben married our Mama, all right!" Gabe agreed with a smug sort of grin. Naomi added in her own emphatic nod.

"It's ever so grand that you have the other Mr. Cartwrights for your brothers now," Betsy put in. "Genie keeps sighing over that all day long." The "Genie" Betsy was referring to was her sixteen-year-old sister Eugenia, who tended to swoon and sigh over practically every single young man in the territory. All four children rolled their eyes at the older girl's patently silly behavior.

"You can't blame Genie, though," Naomi conceded. "Adam, Hoss and Joe are the greatest bunch of big brothers to have in a family."

"They _ain't _your family!" an all-too-familiar voice butted into the conversation, and all four of the friends glanced up at Nate Riley, standing with his arms akimbo. "Old Ben Cartwright married up your Mama...but him an' his family ain't _yours!"_ Gabe glowered.

"Don't you be saying anythin' against our Mama!" he warned, his body tensing. Naomi and Betsy glanced in the direction of the schoolhouse, obviously gaging how quickly they could fetch Miss Harris if need be. Nate, however, merely snorted.

"I don't gotta say nothin' against your Mama," he dismissed Gabe's warning with a shake of his head. "All I gotta do is point out the truth—the Cartwrights ain't your _true_ family...a-cuz you got a different name! As long as your name is 'Callahan', you ain't any true kin to the Cartwrights...not _ever!"_ Gabe sprang to his feet.

"Liar!" the sandy-haired boy spat.

"It's the _truth,_ an' you _know_ it," Nate said in a voice that showed he was clearly taking unholy delight in the way he was taunting Gabe. "Them high-an'-mighty Cartwrights may talk big, but everyone in the territory knows that you need t'be legal if'n you're gonna be considered _true_ kin...an' old Ben Cartwright ain't given you his name, has he? _Has he?"_ The goading quality of the echoed question prompted Gabe's hands to ball into fists and take a step forward towards the older boy.

"What's going on here?" demanded another voice—that of Miss Harris, who was now striding up to the group.

"Nothin', Miss Harris," Nate said quickly. The raven-maned lady turned to the four smaller youngsters.

"Is that correct, children?" she asked the quartet. Naomi, Hector and Betsy all looked at Gabe, who was still silent but glaring daggers at Nate.

"Yes, ma'am," Naomi confirmed in little more than a whisper, which was echoed by everyone else...except Gabe.

"Gabriel?" prompted the schoolmarm. "I asked if Nathan was correct." For a moment Naomi was convinced that Gabe was going to launch himself at Nate in spite of Miss Harris being there, but he finally bobbed his head.

"Yes, ma'am," Gabe agreed with the others. "There's nothin' goin' on here." The teacher drew in a breath, then put a hand on Nate's shoulder.

"It's time to go back to class, then," the adult told them. She turned Nate in the direction of the schoolhouse and nudged him. "Let's move along." So saying, Mercy went to where the school bell hung and rang it to end the lunchtime recess.

"You're lucky Miss Harris came when she did, Gabe!" Betsy said in a rush, gathering up the napkin and two uneaten molasses cookies she still had and putting them in her lunch pail. Naomi's sapphire eyes noted the hail of crumbs that fell from one of her twin's hands when he forced himself to unfurl his fist—the remnants of the cookie he had unconsciously crushed in his anger at Nate's words. Neither Gabe nor Hector responded to Betsy's comment, but Naomi suddenly realized that the lucky one hadn't been her brother, but Nate.

JOE PULLED THE surrey to a halt outside Callahan Station. As he set the brake and looped the reins in preparation for leaving the vehicle, he wondered what had prompted Becky to ask him to stop at the station again after dropping the twins off at school. She'd made the request just as he'd helped her out of the surrey—Joe had his hands on her waist and the blond had leaned forward to bring her lips to his ear, murmuring her question in a voice pitched so that the children didn't hear it. Even now Joe was sweating bullets at the recollection of his reaction: for a heart-stopping moment, the youngest Cartwright brother had entertained the rampantly inappropriate hope that Becky was going to kiss him. Thank the Good Lord that she wasn't aware of his runaway train of thought.

"Becky..?" Joe called as he stepped into the station house.

"I'm here, Joe!" her voice floated out from the kitchen. The brunet man removed his hat as he walked past the counter and into the other room, looking around to see Becky hard at work over a huge mound of dough on the table.

"I'm just in the middle of kneading some bread," she told him, glancing up at him, "But we can talk while I work."

"All right." Joe agreed.

"Joe...have you noticed anything about the twins lately?" Becky asked. He thought for a moment.

"Now that you mention it," Joe replied, "They've been a bit on the quiet side...not that they're rambunctious or anything, but...they haven't been as...as..." He tried to think of a way to express his impression of the twins, but nothing came to mind.

"As happy as they'd been?" Becky supplied. Joe lanced her with started green eyes.

"You think they're _unhappy?"_ He emphasized the last word in disbelief. The young lady paused in her kneading of the dough and rubbed the right side of her jaw thoughtfully with the back of one hand. Joe stared silently at the swath of white flour that now underscored the little beauty mark on Becky's face.

"Well...maybe _'unhappy'_ is too strong," she conceded. "More like...I get the feeling that Gabe and Naomi are _worried_ about something...only they aren't saying what. I was hoping they may have told you about it."

For a moment Joe continued to stare, his eyes glued to the tiny mole that seemed to be taunting him from afar—what would it be like to brush his lips there, he wondered, and then to move just an inch or two over and taste Becky's own mouth..?

"Joe?" The sharp tone in his stepsister's voice snapped him back to reality. Joe shoved his momentary lapse into taboo into the back of his mind and concentrated on Gabe and Naomi, frowning thoughtfully.

"They've been keeping mostly to themselves lately, Becky," he answered. "They do their chores, but the last few days they've been playing quiet kind of games off by themselves." Joe shrugged. "I suppose they might be thinking over something that could be worrying them...but they haven't told me anything about it. Have you tried asking them yourself?" Becky pursed her lips.

"Yes, but they say there's nothing wrong," she told him. "If they haven't confided anything to you, either, I'll have to let Mama know there may be something she needs to talk to them about. I was hoping not to add to her plate, though, since she's still trying to get over the bad food from the trip."

"I'll see if I can't get the twins to talk to me when I pick them up from school later," Joe offered, withdrawing a handkerchief from his pocket and stepping close to Becky, who gave him a puzzled look.

"Joe, what—?" He grinned down at her, carefully wiping the flour from Becky's face.

"Your face was smudged," Joe explained, making no effort to move now that he had cleaned the flour from her cheek. If he took another step forward and bent his head, he could probably kiss her. She looked up at him with enormous sapphire eyes...then blinked, hard.

"Thank you, Joe," Becky said abruptly, stepping back and turning to her bread dough. "I'll see you when you come pick me up later." The young man murmured goodbye and hastily exited the kitchen, not seeing the blond watch him go. Becky closed her eyes, sighing at the close call—for one moment there, she'd been more than halfway convinced that her stepbrother was going to kiss her.

Thank the Good Lord that Joe had been unaware of her runaway train of thought!

However, when Joe and the twins arrived in the surrey later that day, his nigh-imperceptible shake of his chestnut-highlighted head informed Becky that she was likely going to have to inform Mama that something was weighing on the hearts of the youngest two in the family. Rebecca resolved to keep the burdens of her own heart out of it entirely.

BEN CARTWRIGHT'S DARK brown eyes looked around his dinner table with no small amount of pride. On his right sat Adam, Elvira MacGruder, Joe and Naomi. On Ben's left sat Eve, Hoss, Becky and Gabriel. And, as was proper, Ben's own wife faced him from the opposite end of the table. She was still looking a bit peaked from the food poisoning they'd suffered from on the last leg of their journey home, but she returned the smile he beamed her way before turning her attention towards reminding Gabriel to ask politely for the dinner rolls that were just beyond his reach, rather than stretching his arm across the table for them.

The patriarch of the assembled family marveled at how swiftly his life had changed: mere weeks ago, the population around his dinner table had numbered four bachelor men. He came home to find that number increased to ten people ranging in age from fifty-three down to seven years of age. His eldest son had married a vibrant, feisty woman; his middle son would soon be proposing to a young lady of education; and Ben was now in the position of helping to guide a pair of twins from their formative years on through to adulthood. He smiled in anticipation of that particular job. Parenthood definitely had its high points and its nadirs, but Ben had always found it to be ultimately satisfying.

"I spoke to Mr. Meyers, Hoss," Rebecca was saying, "He feels comfortable enough with station duties so that I can stay here tomorrow and help you get ready for your dinner with Miss Harris." The big man grinned with delight.

"I'm glad to hear it, Becky!" he said enthusiastically. "Now I know I'll get a proper haircut before I take her to the restaurant." Joe speared his older brother with a wounded look.

"Are you saying that the haircuts _**I **_give you aren't good enough for the discriminating tastes of the fairer sex?" Hoss chewed on his mouthful of steak before swallowing and giving Joe an answer.

"Yes." The other adults at the table chuckled except Joe.

"I'm hurt, Hoss...true and proper hurt," he mourned...however the twinkle of humor in his emerald eyes belied his tone. "Is that any way to speak to your baby brother..?" Hoss gave a snort of laughter himself.

"That's what big brothers are for!" he teased. Joe sighed, the very picture of comic heartbreak.

"See what you have to look forward to, Gabe?" he told the boy. "Insults and teasing! Hoss is mean, that's what he is..!" Again, Joe's expression was at complete odds to the words he was saying. The twins exchanged a look that, to Becky's eye, seemed a mix of hope and caution.

"You mean that you an' Hoss would be insultin' an' teasin' me, too...?" Gabe asked, looking a bit anxious.

"Naw, Gabe," Hoss answered quickly, "I'd never do that to you."

"No, you wouldn't—" Joe retorted, "—you save up the torture for your blood kin." Becky saw the little boy blink and then bend his head, shoveling vegetables into his mouth quickly as the other adults at the table chuckled again.

"I've finished with that shirt for you, Hoss," Mother MacGruder piped up, "I'd like for you to try it on one more time to make sure that the fit is perfect. If you can do that tomorrow morning, Eve will have time to iron it out before you leave." Hoss looked to his sister-in-law, who nodded with a smile.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am," the middle Cartwright brother told the woman. "I'll remember to do just that."

"A new shirt that's to be pressed before you put it on?" Ben asked, a smile on his face. "You're certainly not leaving anything to chance for this dinner with Miss Harris, are you?"

"No, sir," Hoss agreed. "I wanna look my downright best tomorrow night."

"We can shine up your boots for you, Hoss!" Naomi offered anxiously. "Me an' Gabey won't mind helpin'!"

"I appreciate that, Naomi," Hoss told her with a smile. Joe snorted, his own teasing not yet at an end for tonight.

"Oh, so you don't mind insulting me," he said, barely containing a smile himself, "And then taking advantage of child labor, too...just because they aren't related to you, I suppose?" Once more Becky saw that the adults of the table chuckled at the humor, but the twins seemed to be growing more concerned. She opened her mouth, but Hoss leaned forward and addressed Naomi.

"Don't you pay Li'l Joe any mind, Naomi," he told the girl firmly. "I surely would appreciate my youngest brother and sister helping me to make my dinner with Miss Harris special." Naomi nodded soberly, then turned her attention to her own vegetables.

After dinner, the twins chose to play a game of checkers together rather than request music be played, leaving the adults with the time and opportunity to discuss the project that would be taking place over the weekend: moving Adam and Eve into their house.

"I still don't know if we ought to do that right now, Adam," Eve said a bit fretfully. "I don't like the idea of leaving Ma all alone here."

"Eve Jane Cartwright!" Elvira cried sharply. "I will not be 'all alone' here! There's Ben, Hoss, Joe, Hop Sing..."

"But none of them can help you at night!" Eve pointed out with a blush. The inference was obvious to those assembled: Elvira's need to tend to such things as using a chamberpot or taking a bath prohibited the men of the house from helping her.

"True," Cassandra conceded. "But if Elvira needs help with that, Eve, then I or Rebecca would be more than happy to assist her." Eve sighed, ducking her head.

"But _I've _always done that!" the brunette's voice was low but everyone heard the words all the same. Adam reached out and tilted her face up using a crooked index finger and thumb.

"You've given your mother excellent care, Eve," he told her in a tone that was tender for all that it commanded her attention, "But now it's time to let Mother MacGruder discover how much she can do for herself." Adam's hazel eyes bored steadily into her own cocoa-colored ones, eventually coaxing a smile from Eve.

"All right, then," she agreed, "I'll...stop fussing like an old hen and let my little chick go." Her husband's lips quirked as he strummed his thumb across Eve's bottom lip in a gesture that probably would have seemed uncomfortably intimate had this been in public. The other members of the family, however, merely turned their attention back to organizing exactly how they would aid Adam and Eve with their relocation without impinging on the special dinner date that Hoss would be attending Saturday evening.

"It's time for bed, children," Cassandra announced once the clock struck eight. The twins put away the game and gave everyone hugs before mounting the steps to go up to their rooms. Cassie kissed Ben's cheek.

"I'm still not feeling my best, dear," she told him. "I'll be going to bed, too." Ben saw her direct a nod at Becky before the older woman also climbed the stairs. Becky's lips twitched in a sort of smile as she watched Cassie go upstairs.

"What has you concerned for the children, Becky?" Ben asked the question that his fatherly instinct was prompting. Again the young blond woman briefly registered surprise that Ben should grasp the situation that was occurring and then a silent reminder to herself that he, too, had experience in raising children.

"Gabe and Naomi have been worried about something ever since you and Mama got back, Uncle Ben," Becky answered. "I tried to get them to tell me what it was and so did Joe, but they didn't speak to us about it. Mama..." The young lady's sapphire eyes glanced up the stairs before regarding Ben once more, "...saw that the twins were getting even more concerned at the dinner table, while Joe was teasing Hoss."

"You don't think anything we said made 'em upset, do you?" Hoss asked immediately, the dismay in his voice and face echoed in Joe's own expression.

"Well...they were definitely reacting to something in what was said," Becky admitted. "Neither Gabe nor Naomi are terribly fond of vegetables, yet they both suddenly began eating them as though they were a piece of Hop Sing's apple pie." She could see that Hoss didn't like thinking he had made the twins sad in any way, so she added: "I don't know what it could have been that had them concerned, though, Hoss—like I said, both Joe and I tried to get the twins to talk to us but they didn't say anything."

Ben aimed a contemplative look up the stairs, another of his fatherly instincts prompting him to action. Since he was an experienced father, the rancher immediately followed his instinct and went upstairs.

CASSANDRA WAS INSPECTING Gabriel and Naomi in Gabriel's room after the children had changed for bed separately. The boy's nightshirt was clean, as was his sister's nightgown, and Cassie was now brushing out Naomi's hair in preparation to braiding it before she went to sleep.

"You two have been on your best behavior lately," Cassie pointed out as she worked. "You've been quiet and polite and I saw that you ate all of your vegetables at dinner tonight."

"Yes, Mama," the twins chorused solemnly. As they didn't say anything else, their mother thought a moment before going on.

"You _do _know that Joe and Hoss were teasing each other at the table tonight, don't you?" the silvered blond woman pointed out. "They said what they said to be funny, and not to be mean." The children nodded.

"Yes, Mama," came the simultaneous answer from the two youngsters.

"Are you afraid that Hoss and Joe will be mean to you?" Cassandra continued her fishing expedition in spite of knowing that she was grasping at straws. She'd accompanied the twins upstairs because she had finally picked up not on Gabriel and Naomi's distress, but on Becky's concern for her younger siblings. Cassie grimaced mentally—she'd be glad when her digestive system finally got back to normal from that bout with the tainted food, for dealing with the sudden trips to the outhouse had distracted her from noticing the twins' behavior earlier than now.

"Oh, _no,_ Mama!" Naomi insisted, shaking her head and making the task of weaving the braid impossible for a moment. "They could _never_ be mean on purpose!"

"No, ma'am!" Gabe confirmed. "Hoss only said he'd never treat me like his brother." Then he sucked his lower lip into his mouth and looked away. Cassie forced herself into continuing to braid Naomi's hair. It wasn't easy, because her adopted son had finally tipped her off to what was bothering him—Cassandra recognized his telltale behavior from having raised him for almost the past two years: whenever he was extremely upset or fearful, he would attempt to keep from crying by sucking his bottom lip into his mouth and looking away so that he could blink away the tears, supposedly unseen.

This time, however, Gabriel's bid at self-control told Cassandra what she needed to know.

"You're afraid that you _aren't _a true part of the family," Cassie said softly, tying a ribbon at the end of the single braid down Naomi's back. The little girl gasped, turning around and, throwing her arms around her mother's waist, burst into tears.

"Oh, Mama!" Naomi wailed. "Uncle Ben is nice and Joe is nice and Hoss is nice and Adam is nice but Nate Riley says that we'll _never _be true kin a-cuz we're not legal!" She buried her face into Cassie's upper belly and sobbed.

"_What?"_ The single-word question was uttered from the doorway, where Cassandra saw, after turning her head, Ben standing and looking aghast. Gabriel hesitated before he spoke.

"Nate Riley says we can't never be a real family because us Callahans got a different name," the boy said heavily. Ben stepped into the room and knelt so that he was closer to eye level with the lad.

"It isn't a name that makes you part of a real family, Gabriel," Ben told him. "It's the love and respect you have for one another. You, Naomi, Becky and Zach are all part of my family now just as surely as if you'd all been born Cartwrights, because I love each and every one of you." The boy's eyes blinked and Gabriel launched himself at Ben, wrapping his wiry arms around the man's neck and hugging tight.

It took the adults a little while longer to put the children to bed, as there was still a bit of residual comforting and reassurance that needed to be doled out to the twins. Finally, however, Ben and Cassie made their way to their own bedroom in a pensive sort of silence. Cassandra disrobed and pulled on a nightgown, her expression thoughtful. Ben was also thinking as he changed into his nightshirt.

"Mr. Riley needs to speak to his son again, it seems," Cassandra said, sitting at her vanity table to begin brushing her hair as Ben made sure that all of the clothing to be laundered was put into the basket his wife had designated for that purpose. The rancher heaved a deep sigh, shaking his head slowly.

"I doubt that will help in the end, Treasure," he replied, taking up her silver-handled hairbrush and smoothing it through the silver-and-gold tresses—it was an intimate task that he'd gotten into the habit of assisting her with during their stay in New Haven. "While I agree with you that young Nate was wrong for putting the idea into Gabriel and Naomi's heads...the fact is...legally they aren't part of my family—not until I give them my name." His wife—who had been starting to relax under the strokes of the brush—stiffened in her seat.

"What are you saying, Ben?" Cassie's voice was a bit strained.

"I'm saying that this whole matter can be settled by my officially adopting Rebecca, Gabriel and Naomi," he told her positively. "Once that happens, the children should feel secure enough to withstand any mean-spiritedness such as the kind Nate Riley seems to enjoy spreading." Ben continued to brush out his wife's waist-length locks, but he became increasingly aware that Cassandra not only remained silent but was also sitting on her vanity chair as though there were a ramrod in her spine.

"Treasure..?" he asked, bewildered at the censure he was perceiving. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, Ben," Cassie said tightly, "There's something _very _wrong if you believe that I'll let you adopt my brother's children."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER "TEN"**

BEN CARTWRIGHT HAD lived long enough to have suffered through too many nights in frosty conditions—operating a ranch the size of the Ponderosa demanded that he ride out and survey the boundaries on occasion, as well as having to head cattle drives and timber harvesting, so he very often had to go out during storms in order to personally handle one disaster or another regarding the animals or the property. Even before Ben came to own the Ponderosa, there was many a time that he had been hard-pressed to keep himself and Adam or Hoss (or both of his sons) from succumbing to plunging temperatures on the trip out West. However, the patriarch was forced to admit that, of all the rain, sleet, and snow he had ever had to endure while out on the range or even just traveling, none of that had been as remotely freezing as it was in his bedroom just now.

Cassandra's spine as she sat with her back to him was stiff and straight, and Ben was at a loss as to figure out what kind of notion may have been running through her silver-and-gold head...all he knew was that she definitely _didn't _like the idea of his adopting the children in her care.

"Cassandra...Treasure..." Ben said in a cautious tone, "I'm making a perfectly logical and reasonable offer."

"Of course it would seem logical and reasonable to _you,_ Ben," Cassie replied tightly, _"You're_ not being told that Adam, Hoss and Joe would cease being Cartwrights." Her husband blinked.

"Cease being...?" he partially echoed her words, still not able to comprehend her meaning. "I don't understand...this is something that will bring our family closer together." Cassie stood up and marched over to the bed, pulling back the bed covers.

"This is something that will erase the name of Callahan!" the silvered blond retorted hotly. "It would be like saying...like saying that Jason had never existed!" Cassandra climbed into the bed, blew out the lamp on the table near her and yanked the covers up over her. Ben couldn't help but notice that she was hunched into a rather stiff position with her back to his side of the bed. He replaced the hairbrush he'd been using to groom her shining head and went to his own side of the bed, thoughtful as he, too, pulled the covers back and climbed in. Ben blew out the lamp on his night table and lay back in the bed.

Looking at it from Cassandra's point of view, Ben had to admit that there was a bit of a concern: in adopting the children, their natal name of Callahan would be replaced with Cartwright...and Jason Callahan's family would cease to exist—in name only, for the love with which he'd raised his family before his untimely death would doubtless continue. Ben also had to concede that, naturally, he _wasn't_ worried about it—because it would be the Cartwright name that would continue to exist.

Ben needed to rethink the options, then, and see if there was some other way around the dilemma facing the twins. Meanwhile, however, the rancher resolved not to allow Cassandra to go to sleep in her current distressed state. He turned to her, reaching across the gulf between them and drawing her huddled body against his.

"I would sooner cut off my own right arm than take away your brother's name from his children." Ben murmured against his wife's ear as his arms enfolded her and drew her against his chest. "We'll just have to see if there's something else we can do." He could feel as well as hear Cassie draw in her breath before she turned in his arms to face him.

"Do you really mean that, Ben?" she asked anxiously, one of her hands cupping his cheek.

"Yes, Treasure, I do." he answered truthfully. Cassandra sighed and snuggled into her husband's body.

Now that the warmth had returned to the room, Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright had a good night's sleep...eventually.

BREAKFAST, ALAS, WAS destined not to be anywhere near as peaceful as the night before. The twins were still anxious because they would have to go to school and face Nathan Riley, the boy who could (and, likely, _would)_ continue to taunt them with the fact that the twins were not Cartwrights. The more the duo plied Ben with hints and veiled questions about legally becoming Cartwrights, the more visibly upset Cassandra became.

The unlikely bearer of the straw that would break the camel's back was Hoss.

"Well, Pa," the big man said with a smile aimed at Gabe's anxious face, "I don't see why you can't just go get a judge to let you adopt—" The amiable cowboy got no further than this.

"I will _not _allow my brother's name to disappear!" Cassandra shouted furiously, then burst into tears and, leaping to her feet, ran into the kitchen. Eight of the nine people she'd left behind stared after her with rounded eyes—Ben's expression was anguished rather than surprised.

"What was that about?" Eve asked Rebecca, who blinked and then shrugged, mystified.

"I honestly don't know," the younger woman said. "I've never seen Mama this upset before."

"Yer Mama's not given to spells an' such?" asked Mother MacGruder, who was still looking thoughtfully in the direction that Cassie had gone.

"No, ma'am," Becky answered, earnestly shaking her head. "Mama's always been so level-headed...she's_ had_ to be, really, in order to get the way station started."

"I'd better go after her..." Ben said, getting to his feet. However, Elvira waved at him to stop.

"If ya'll pardon my sayin' so, Ben," she interrupted him, "But somethin' tells me that it's best if Becky, Eve an' me go. Ya stay here for a spell." Both Eve and Becky exchanged glances with raised eyebrows, but they got up and accompanied the paraplegic away from the breakfast table, passing a harried-looking Hop Sing on their way to the kitchen. Cassandra was sitting at the round table there, weeping into the arms she had folded and propped on the table in front of her.

"Mama!" Becky hurried forward. "What's this all about? Hoss has made a very sensible suggestion..."

"No!" Cassandra's voice was muffled as she didn't raise her head. "I _won't _bury Jason again! I _won't!"_ Her adopted daughter gave Eve and Elvira a troubled glance and went to the older blond, putting an arm around Cassie's shoulders and murmuring comfort. Eve shifted, feeling like she really oughtn't be here, yet also wanted to ease the pain that Ben's wife was feeling.

"Cassandra Cartwright," Elvira said suddenly, "When was it ya last had yer monthlies?" The shock of the unexpected and rather bald question cut through the emotions lacing the room. Cassie's head lifted and she turned wide, watery gray eyes to Elvira.

"What?"

"When did ya last have yer monthlies?" Elvira repeated evenly. Consternation bloomed in Cassandra's face as she forced herself to think about the question.

"Well...um..." the woman with the silver-and-gold hair bit her lip as she considered the matter. Her entire trip to New Haven and back had been such a wonderful adventure that she hadn't noticed the fact that she hadn't had to assemble and use the usual stockpile of folded rags since...since...

"Before I left on my honeymoon," Cassandra admitted, blinking.

"So..." Elvira said, ticking off the points on her fingers as she spoke, "Ya ain't had yer monthlies since b'fore yer honeymoon, ya're still getting' sick even though yer man is over the food poisonin', ya're bein' all weepy and such—_and_ yer blouse looks like it's gonna pop off if ya take a deep breath." All eyes went to the front of Cassandra's shirt, where—as Mother MacGruder so aptly described—the buttons strained to hold the upper part of the garment closed.

"Oh, my!" Eve breathed. Becky began to smile.

"Mama!" she said excitedly. "You're going to be a _Mama!"_

"I _can't_ be!" Cassie gasped, her face paling. "I...I'm too old!"

"Woman," Elvira pointed out sagaciously, "If ya still get yer monthlies, then ya _ain't_ 'too old'."

"But...but..." Cassie spluttered, unable to counter the older woman's logic. "...But...how do you _know_..? If I _am_...in _that_ condition...it's not even two months since..." A wild and deep blush suffused Cassandra's face at the recollection of just when the child she was possibly carrying could have been conceived.

"I carried me eight children, Cassandra," Elvira told her firmly, "Six of 'em to a live birth...I _know_ when a gal is in the family way." Eve's mother leaned forward and patted Cassie's hand. "Best thing for ya to do is to wait until yer next monthly is due...if what ya say is true, then it oughtta be startin' in another couple of weeks. If the time comes an' goes an' ya don't get your monthly this time around, then it means ya're carryin', and ya can tell Ben so. Meanwhile, we'll keep this to ourselves—no need to get yer man in an uproar if'n ya can't be sure about it yet."

"That sounds wise, Mama," Becky agreed, nodding. Cassandra looked up.

"Expecting or not," she said, her hands fisting on the table, "I still can't let Ben change your names, Rebecca—it would be like saying that your Pa didn't exist." Becky tilted her head.

"What did Uncle Ben say to you about that, Mama?" she asked.

"He...he offered to adopt you and the twins," Cassie answered. The younger blond considered this a moment, and then patted Cassie's hand.

"He doesn't have to do that." Becky pointed out. "It's Gabe and Naomi who are the ones most effected, Mama—so Uncle Ben should adopt _them._ Zach's twenty-one and doesn't really need adopting...and I've got a little more than two years until I'm twenty-one, too...but since I'd have to change my name when I get married anyway, I don't need to be adopted. That would leave Zach and me as Callahans."

"That makes a lot of sense," Eve opined with a nod. The eldest Mrs. Cartwright sat in her chair, blinking.

"Why didn't _**I**_ think of that?" she asked out loud. "Instead, I was a weepy female!"

"It's the baby," Elvira answered. "An'...as it's yer first one, too...the changes the tyke brings about are gonna be doozies." Mother MacGruder eyed her daughter pointedly. "How about ya, Eve Jane..? Been feelin' weepy an' such of late?"

"No," the brunette said emphatically. "And I've had my monthly last week."

"Ya better hurry up, then, girl," Elvira drawled, a twinkle in her brown eyes. "Yer mama-in-law got a head start on ya."

THE FEMALES RETURNED from the kitchen, prompting the men at the table to get to their feet upon their re-entry into the dining area.

"Treasure, are you all right?" Ben's voice and expression were rife with concern. He was a bit confused but pleasantly surprised when his wife went to him and kissed his cheek.

"Yes, dear," she told him. "I was just...being emotional. Now...about what Hoss just said—" There was a tug at her skirt—as well as at the bottom of Ben's shirt—and the couple looked down on the anxious faces of the twins.

"Mama!" Gabe said soberly. "Me an' Naomi been talkin'...an' we don't want Uncle Ben to be our uncle any more." Both of the adults froze in shock.

"You don't?" Cassandra replied.

"No." Naomi spoke up. "We want him to be our Papa...just like you're our Mama. Please...please can we have him as our Papa? _Please, _Mama?" Ben—whose heart had been lanced with a swift, sharp pain when the twins first spoke of rejecting him as their uncle, now bloomed with fresh sorrow as he had already promised his wife that he would not be taking the Callahan name away from her late brother's children. He opened his mouth to dash the hopes shining in the faces of the children, but Cassandra's soft hand laid upon his arm.

"Yes, Gabriel and Naomi, you will have him for your Papa," she answered firmly. The twins whooped for joy and hugged both Ben and Cassie around the waist before hugging each other and then dancing around the room with glee. Cassandra turned to her awestruck husband.

"Becky pointed out that you can adopt the twins," she told him softly, "While Zach and Becky don't really need to be adopted themselves." Ben blinked and then nodded.

"This is true, Treasure," he agreed. "As long as it's something you feel comfortable with..?"

"I mourn the necessity of it," Cassie said honestly. "But...it's obvious that the children want you as their official...Papa...and, this way, the Callahan name goes on." Ben's hand captured her chin and he bent to brush his lips against hers.

"Thank you, Treasure," he said, smiling. "I'm looking forward to becoming an 'official Papa' very soon." The expression in her silver-gray eyes seemed to grow both contemplative and humorous at the same time.

"I'll be sure to hold you to that, Ben," she said in a way that made him wonder if Cassandra wasn't laughing at some private joke.

THE _CÔTE__ D'AZUR_ was busy the evening that Hoss escorted Mercy into the restaurant, although he was a mass of conflicting emotions as he did so. On the one hand, Hoss was wondering if he was anywhere near good enough for her, and on the other hand, he was mighty glad that he had taken the time and trouble to work with the other members of his family to get ready for this very important date.

Becky had cut his hair. Mother MacGruder and Eve had made sure that he had a set of fancy-dress clothes to go to the restaurant in...a pair of pants and a jacket in dark gray wool, with a white shirt and a brocade vest of cobalt blue that everyone told him set off his eyes very nicely. Cassandra had made sure that Hoss' string tie was tied properly.

"There you go, Hoss!" she beamed at him. "Take a look in the mirror and see for yourself how dashing you are." She stepped aside and Hoss stared into the cheval mirror there: a tall, fancy-dress stranger stared back at him.

"I tried to make sure that your collar was starched but not too stiff, Hoss," Eve told him.

"I think it's fine, JJ...uh, I mean, Eve," Hoss replied. "It's just that I'm a mite...nervous about tonight."

"Don't be," his best friend since their days at primary school assured him. "Miss Harris is already sweet on you...I can't imagine her refusing you now."

"Not with them shiny boots, she's not!" Naomi pointed out the twins' contribution to making Hoss look especially nice this evening. The middle Cartwright brother smiled.

"Now that you mention it, Naomi," he said earnestly, "I think you're right." Hoss kept firm control of his nervousness on the trip to Virginia City, feeling rather proud of himself for not giving in to the nigh-overwhelming urge to get sick and turn tail. Instead, he marched up to the front door of Mercy's little house and knocked on the door, clutching a bouquet of buttery-yellow primroses in one hand. The door opened.

"Good evening, Hoss," Mercy greeted him.

"Good evenin', M..." The big man found that the power of speech had deserted him as he stared at the picture the schoolmarm made in the doorway.

Mercy was wearing a gown that was the same emerald shade as her eyes. Hoss couldn't help but notice that her shoulders and most of her arms were bared by the material, nor did he miss the fact that there were pearls at the base of her throat as well as dangling from her ears. She smiled, her eyes dropping to the bouquet of flowers he was holding.

"Oh, Hoss—are those for me?" Mercy asked. Hoss blinked and then held out the flowers.

"Yes, they are."

"Thank you," she said brightly as she took them. "I'll be just a moment." She closed the door and left Hoss fidgeting on her tiny front porch. All he could think was that Mercy looked like a fairytale princess and how could he even be thinking she would seriously entertain his offer for her hand in marriage..? She'd answered the door wearing pearls—pearls that meant she was a lady of means and refinement who couldn't possibly be at all interested in him. It wasn't too late—Hoss could just trot over to the surrey and hop in, then whip the horses into a dead run and get out of Virginia City before his heart got stomped on...

"I'm ready, Hoss," Mercy's voice sounded next to him and he looked again, startled because his panicked imagination had made the middle Cartwright son unaware that she'd returned. Hoss blinked, noticing that Mercy had added a few things to her ensemble: a black shoulder cape, a pair of elbow-length gloves...and a primrose to either side of the glossy raven chignon her hair had been styled into.

"You don't think the flowers are too much, do you, Hoss?" she asked a bit nervously. "Once I saw them, I felt they were just the thing to go with my gown..." Hoss stared at the lovely young lady, realizing with that she obviously was as anxious about their upcoming dinner as he was. That knowledge did more to make him relax than all of his family's pep talk earlier.

"Maybe I should go back and remove them..?" Mercy said, taking a step back to do just that. Hoss shook his head vehemently.

"Oh, no, Mercy," he assured her. "You look fine, pretty as a picture, really...I can't help looking at you...an' feeling proud you used the flowers I brought you this way." The teacher smiled up at him and Hoss offered her his arm.

"Now, Miss Harris, if you'll most kindly allow me to escort you to dinner..?"

"Why, thank you, Mr. Cartwright," she answered, taking his arm, "I'm most obliged."

The ride to the restaurant was magical and the interior of the place was as romantic as Hoss could hope for...however, the spell was broken the moment Hoss opened the menu—for the entire listing was written in extra-fancy script with a lot of added squiggly marks and misspelled words that didn't make a lot of sense to him. He signaled to the waiter.

"You'd think a place as fancy as this would know to spell out their menu in proper English," Hoss complained to the man with a frown. The red-jacketed man with the pencil mustache lifted a haughty eyebrow.

"The _Côte__ D'Azur_ is a French restaurant, sir," he said with a condescending sniff and a decidedly non-American accent. _"Naturellement,_ the language in the menu would be French, and not English." Hoss' face began to burn in embarrassment. However, Mercy glared at the snooty waiter.

"Then you would do well to remind the proprietors of the establishment that it is the height of discourtesy not to provide an English translation of the menu if they plan to operate their restaurant in an English-speaking region," she said icily, then added: _"Aussi bien qu'employer les serveurs grossiers, s'il vous __plaît__."_ Upon hearing Mercy rattle off that last sentence, the snooty waiter paled.

"We'll have two orders of your best steak, potatoes and whatever vegetables you have to go with that," Hoss ordered. "And a bottle of your finest wine." The waiter nodded and left after collecting the menus from the couple seated at the table.

"Mercy—was that French you spoke?" Hoss asked her. "What did you say to him?" The young lady flushed a bit.

"Yes, it was French," she admitted. "And I told him that he could tell his bosses that I thought they were employing extremely rude waiters." The sandy-haired man with her smiled and enjoyed the rest of the evening with the French-speaking schoolmarm.

On the ride back to her house, Hoss rehearsed in his head exactly what he was going to say and how he would say it. He pulled the surrey to a stop in front Mercy's house, set the brake and went around to her side of the vehicle to help her down. Hoss looked up at her as she bent and offered her hand to him and completely forgot what he was going to say. Instead, he reached up and, putting his hands on either side of her waist, plucked her up from the surrey. He slowly turned to one side as he held her aloft, his eyes roving her face, which held a mixture of surprise...and delight.

"Hoss Cartwright!" Mercy chided him breathlessly. "You put me down this instant! What if somebody saw us?" For all that she was obviously taking the man to task, however, the young woman's smile didn't dim.

"Mercy..." Hoss rasped, lowering her to the ground but not relinquishing his grip on her waist, "...I'd be honored if you'd marry me." Beneath his hands, Hoss felt Mercy suddenly stiffen. The entire world held its breath waiting on the outcome of her response...

"BECKY..." JOE'S VOICE thinly veiled his impatience. The blond looked at him.

"What?"

"It's your move," he reminded her. Rebecca looked down at the checkerboard.

"Oh...sorry..." she replied, then pushed one of her pieces to a square.

"That's the hundredth time you've glanced at the clock," Joe noted. "You're not going to make it go any faster by staring at it." The youngest Cartwright brother eyed the game board and jumped the piece that Becky had just moved and leaned back to smirk at her. "That should teach you to keep your mind on your game."

"You can't pretend that you're not every bit as anxious as I am to find out about Hoss," the young woman said with a defensive pout.

"Sure I am," Joe conceded, "But I'm a man—I have the ability to stay level-headed and keep my mind on what I'm doing...unlike a flighty-minded female." Becky's response was to raise one eyebrow, lift her right hand...and then use it to move one of her checkers so that she jumped the piece that Joe had just moved—as well as three others.

"King me," she said, her sapphire eyes glowing with humor as Joe gaped down at the board. Adam, Eve and Mother MacGruder chuckled at the brunet man's chagrin. Ben and Cassandra were speaking softly to each other and not paying attention, or Joe was certain that his father would have had something to say about Joe speaking far too soon—as it was, the hovering Hop Sing snorted and shook his head. Joe crowned Becky's checker piece with a surly grace.

"All right, all right—so maybe I'm a bit...distracted," he admitted. Adam shifted his attention back to the book he was reading, while Eve continued to hold up the yarn her mother was winding into a ball.

"We're all eager to find out about Hoss, Joe," Eve pointed out. She would have continued on with more, only the front door opened up and the object of everyone's curiosity came into the house. All eyes turned to watch the big man as he divested himself of his gunbelt before turning a somber face towards his family. Immediately Cassandra was on her feet, prompting Ben, Adam and Joe to get up, too.

"Hoss...Hoss, what happened..?" the silvered blond asked her stepson gently. Hoss heaved a huge sigh.

"Mercy wouldn't agree to a July wedding..." he admitted dolefully. Dismay rippled through the gathered family members, who were now all moving toward Hoss. Suddenly a sly grin split his cherubic face.

"She wants it on June the twenty-seventh...the day after the last day of the school year," he confessed triumphantly. There was a moment of silence that was shattered by Joe's celebratory whoop of glee, and then everyone in the room crowded around Hoss, tendering their congratulations along with hugs, handshakes and/or slaps on the back.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER "ELEVEN"**

MERCY SAT ON the edge of her bed and brushed out her waist-length raven locks in long, slow strokes, a dreamy sort of expression on her face for all that she hadn't gone to sleep yet. The previous few hours of time occupied her thoughts: the way Hoss looked when he came to pick her up...the lovely golden flowers he gave her...the smile of gratitude he aimed her way after she took the snooty French waiter to task...

...the fact that Hoss Cartwright had asked her to marry him.

She recalled freezing for a moment, staring at him, hardly daring to believe that the big, tall man had uttered the proposal—but the strained anxiety on his face after he asked confirmed that the teacher had, indeed, heard correctly...

"HOSS..." MERCY REPLIED, her eyes and face suddenly glowing, "...oh, Hoss...I'm honored that you've asked...of _course _I'll marry you!" Neither of two young people could help themselves: Hoss pulled Mercy to him and they kissed.

Once again Hoss found himself drowning in a flood of pure sensation—the sight of her sparkling emerald eyes the split-second before her lashes swept closed; the scent of her flowery perfume; the warm softness of Mercy's lips; the throaty purr of satisfaction she made; and the slightly-minty taste as his kiss deepened. His head was spinning and he certainly didn't want to let her go—nor did Mercy seem to wish the embrace to end, either, clinging to his shoulders the way she was—but Hoss registered the soft whinny of one of the horses hitched up to the surrey and put the raven-maned woman from him with great reluctance.

"Mercy," he admitted in a very shaky voice, "You make a man plumb forget himself."

"Oh, Hoss..." she breathed, lifting a hand to cup one of his cheeks tenderly. "...I forget myself whenever I'm with you." For a moment, the man's eyes blazed like the summer sky in mid-morning. He placed one of his hands over the one she had on his cheek and reveled in the feel of her palm against his face for a moment.

"Mercy," Hoss told her, "I'm of a mind to get married as soon as we can."

"The last day of school will be the twenty-sixth of June," she replied in a rush, "We could get married on the twenty-seventh." The tall man grinned down at her.

"And I thought I was getting biggety by hoping for a July wedding," Hoss admitted, a twinkle in his eye.

"Biggety..." echoed Mercy, her lips pursing, "...audacious, imperious, presump—" She got no farther than that, as her newly-accepted fiancé bent his head once again and kissed her very thoroughly.

HOURS LATER, IN the privacy of her little house, Mercy was still warmed by the passion Hoss had demonstrated—and marveling at the restraint he showed. The female smiled to herself now, for—once again—it had been Hoss who had remembered that right outside her front door in the middle of Virginia City was _not_ the best place for the couple to get carried away. He'd left her reluctantly but with a grin that was akin to the sun itself as he drove back to the Ponderosa, no doubt to share his joy with his immediate family.

_Family._

Suddenly the euphoric clouds that the jet-tressed schoolmarm had been walking on vanished, and she came down to earth with a very sharp thud.

His family would be happy for Hoss, of course—but none of them knew the truth about her past. A truth she knew she should confess before the engagement was too far along, for Hoss at least deserved to know the truth. He would be fair-minded, she was sure...but would his family share his view? And, as fair as Hoss may be, there were _some_ things that were simply intolerable to most people...

Mercy shivered, dropping her brush onto her night table and darting under the covers of her bed like a child who was trying to beat the bogey-man before he came along and "gotcha." She blew out the lamp and curled into a protective ball under the covers that she pulled up to her chin.

It was a long while before Mercy fell asleep, questions about revealing herself to the man she loved keeping rest at bay.

AT THE PONDEROSA'S main house, Hoss lay back in his bed with his hands folded behind his head, also unable to fall asleep right away, but for a reason that vastly differed from that of his fiancée. He was anticipating showing Mercy off at the party that his father was now most enthusiastically endorsing. Starting tomorrow, the Cartwrights would be spreading the news that, in two weeks' time, they would be hosting a celebration that everyone in the territory was welcome to attend. It was already shaping up to be an event to rival the Harvest Festival.

Hoss closed his eyes and saw, in his mind's eye, the image of Mercy and himself at the cabin he intended to renovate. Instead of the old one-room structure, their version would have at least two rooms added on: a separate bedroom and an enclosed kitchen. The betrothed man found his thoughts straying to the occasion for using a large copper bathtub in the kitchen and idly wondered if he shouldn't just add a room to use as a sort of attached bath house. He could ask Adam about it tomorrow, certain that Mercy would appreciate a convenience like that, especially if there were going to be children to bathe.

Hmm...maybe he should add two bedrooms instead of just one..? Their baby would naturally sleep in the same room with Mercy and himself, but after the child was old enough to not require constant supervision, it would be nice to have some privacy again...

It was a long time before Hoss fell asleep, visions of a house with at least three stories and several wings and filled with children having segued into his dreams.

SOON THE VERY excited scuttlebutt began flying all over town and into the surrounding area:

Ben Cartwright was having a celebration that would be held from the ninth of November (after church services, naturally!) through to the twelfth and everyone who could come was invited. Although the event was rather rushed, people in the area agreed that it was best to hold it as soon as possible before snow began to fly and made traveling for those further away from the Ponderosa all the more difficult. Any event hosted by the Cartwrights promised to be the party of the season!

This party was going to be a bit different than the ones usually held on the Ponderosa, as it would take place at the new house that Adam had built for his bride, Eve. Tongues were wagging about the way Adam had designed the building and about the newfangled washout closets supposedly installed there.

There were other rumors that, besides the marriages of Ben and Adam—and the official adoption of Naomi and Gabriel into the Cartwright clan—there was going to be the announcement of an engagement...and everybody in Virginia City knew that Hoss Cartwright was sparking the pretty school teacher, Mercy Harris, so it only made sense that this would happen. Such an historic event was not to be missed!

THE GUEST IN Room 2121 of the Palace Hotel in Virginia City was anticipating this "party of the season," too...only her anticipation was not a good thing—not for Mercy Harris and Hoss Cartwright. But the matron was patient, biding her time until the very best opportunity would present itself...an opportunity that suddenly waved like a red flag before a bull.

The woman chuckled to herself. Oh, no...she wouldn't miss _this _party for the world!

_**Sunday, November 9, 1862**_

BEN CARTWRIGHT CONSULTED with his indispensable houseman, Hop Sing.

"All the beef and chicken for tonight is ready, Mr. Cartwright," the oriental man said with assurance. "Plenty of vegetables to go with them, too. This will be a number one party!" Ben grinned at Hop Sing—although he still slipped into his own unique syntax from time to time, the cook's English had improved marvelously under Eve's tutelage.

"We couldn't possibly do it without you, Hop Sing," the silver-maned man replied earnestly.

"You better get upstairs," Hop Sing said a bit brusquely, for all that he beamed at his employer's compliment, "Mrs. Cartwright be needing your help." Ben nodded and mounted the stairs, privately translating the phrase to _"Mrs. Cartwright be wanting to make sure you're properly dressed for party."_ He made his way to their bedroom and knocked.

"Come in, Ben," Cassandra's voice bade him before he could follow up his rapping on the door with an inquiry as to whether she was dressed. The man stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, noting that his wife was inspecting herself in the mirror. Ben's dark eyes drank in the comely picture of the silvered blond wearing a green bombazine gown that had a modest V-neckline and a wide, bell-shaped skirt that was all the rage in the circles of high society back in the Old States.

"How did you know it was me, Treasure?" he asked, smiling as he approached her. Cassie turned to face him with an impish smile of her own.

"Gabe, Naomi and even Becky don't knock," she pointed out. "If it had been Hoss, Joe or Hop Sing, then the knocking at the door would have been more imperative, since none of them would even think to come to our bedroom to see me unless it's a bit of an emergency." Ben had to chuckle at her logic.

"You are quite correct," he conceded. "You look wonderful...but do you think I'll pass inspection...?" He held open his arms so that she could see Ben was also wearing green—though his was of an olive shade rather than the forest green that Cassandra had on. The suit was set off by his ubiquitous silver brocade vest. Ben's wife stepped even closer to him and trailed a hand over his chest.

"You'll do, Mr. Cartwright," she told him with a smile.

"Good," Ben replied. "There's a lot of happy news to announce at the party, and I certainly want to look my best."

"Are you sure you remember everything you want to announce, Ben..?" prompted Cassie with that humorous sparkle in her silver-gray eyes.

"Woman, you cut me to the quick!" her husband huffed in mock-affront. "Let's see...there's our marriage, of course...Adam and Eve's marriage...Gabriel and Naomi's adoption...and the engagement of Hoss and Mercy, as well."

"Very good," Cassandra nodded as she approved the list. "But...there's one more bit of news, though I'm not sure if you want to make _it _public just yet."

"Oh?" Ben prompted, his eyebrows elevating. "What would that be, Treasure?"

"The announcement that the newest member of the Cartwright family is due to arrive about the month of June," she told him, her eyes on his face. Ben gaped, then gave a delighted laugh.

"And why wouldn't I want to announce the anticipated arrival of my first grandchild?" he exclaimed, beaming.

"Because it isn't your _grand_child that will be arriving, Ben," Cassie explained, taking one of his hands and putting it to the front of her waist as she spoke. For a moment the Cartwright elder could only stare and blink, not quite comprehending what his wife was telling him.

"But...but..._how..?"_ he asked, flabbergasted. Cassandra laughed.

"You have three grown sons, Ben Cartwright!" she answered. "You already know _how_..! The question is...how do you _feel_ about it?" The man continued to stare at the woman he married, seeing the slightly-anxious look on her face even as her hand held his in place over the belly that sheltered the baby they had created together. Ben blinked.

"I...feel..." he said slowly, then suddenly swept his wife up in a fierce yet tender hug, "...overjoyed! A _baby!_ Hallelujah!" Ben kissed Cassie with spontaneous emotion. When they parted, she was laughing with happiness as well as relief.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, Ben," she confessed. "I was afraid you'd think I was too old...or that _you_ were." He paused for a moment, realizing that he would be in his mid-seventies when this baby reached adulthood, but then he shrugged.

"It's something that can be a concern," he admitted. "But...you're _sure_ you're expecting?" She nodded her silver-and-gold head.

"Elvira advised me that I might be increasing when we all went to the kitchen—you know...when I was so upset about the idea of your adopting the children..?" Cassandra replied, pausing until Ben nodded. "She was the first to suspect—because she's had children of her own—and told me to wait until the time my next monthly course was due. Well...the time for it has come and gone...and _no _course." His wife was a bit pink in the face, prompting Ben to cup her face in his hands.

"Now, Treasure, no blushes between us," he assured her gently. "We're a consecrated couple in the privacy of our own room...and, besides...I love you. I'm thrilled that we'll be having a baby together..." Ben's dark eyes sparkled with humor.

"And I can't wait to see the look on the faces of Adam, Hoss and Joe when we tell them the news!"

ADAM CARTWRIGHT HAD (what would appear to the casual observer) a completely neutral expression on his handsome face as he watched his wife adjust her sapphire-blue gown for the twentieth time in the space of three minutes. Eve, however, knew better: there was laughter deep within the hazel glow of his eyes as he regarded her from where he leaned in the doorway to their bedroom. His arms were crossed and her husband looked the picture of nonchalance, while the brunette was fussing about her appearance.

"Are you sure this gown is suitable for the occasion, Adam..?" she asked anxiously. "Honestly, I feel as though I have...iron barrel hoops circling my hips!" As she spoke, Eve picked up handfuls of the bell-shaped skirt, then released them in a huff.

"Come now, it's not that bad," chided Adam. "You're not wearing hoops, only petticoats."

"Twelve petticoats...each of them made of horsehair, _thank_ you!" his wife retorted. "Why can't I just wear the gold gingham? It's so much more comfortable...and suited to ranch work." Adam came away from the door and walked toward her.

"But this is a _party,_ Eve, and not work," he pointed out implacably. "It's also the very first party we are hosting in our brand-new home. Since everyone in the territory is coming to our...castle, so to speak, it behooves you to dress like a queen." Adam's chiseled lips twitched into a smile.

"Queens..." she replied with a smirk of her own, "...have the benefit of having hoards of pages around to help hold up heavy trains and such. I, however, have to drag about these skirts all by myself." Eve snorted. "I'll bet you'll be wanting me to sport a set of crown jewels and a scepter, too, for the benefit of the masses—perhaps even a cloak of royal purple trimmed in ermine!" Adam opened his mouth to respond when her flippant remark prodded a forgotten memory.

"Why, Eve..." her husband drawled, moving past her to where his chest of drawers stood, "...you've read my mind!" The man opened one of the top drawers and began rummaging through it.

"Adam Cartwright, what _are_ you doing?" the brunette's voice shook a bit. "I swear, if you pull out a tiara, I'm going to scream!" He found what he was looking for and turned to her, smiling as he placed a pair of small hinged boxes in her hands.

"No tiaras, Your Highness," Adam assured her, "But something that I hope you'll like, regardless. Please...open them." She looked at the boxes and then up at him with slightly-narrowed eyes before she did as he asked, first opening the one that was almost square and seeing within it the decorative sapphire-and-diamond brooch Adam had purchased from Mr. Hagermann. Eve drew in her breath, her cocoa-colored eyes widening.

"Ohhhh...Adam..." she breathed, amazed, "...it...it's lovely."

"Open the other one," he said, unable to keep the note of eagerness from his voice as he gestured to the other box—this one a long and slender rectangular shape. His wife glanced up at him, then did so, unveiling the matching bracelet.

"They go with your gown," Adam pointed out the obvious. Eve's mouth quirked.

"Help me put them on..?" she asked. Her husband took the brooch from her as Eve unclasped the bracelet and fastened it around her left wrist. Adam pinned the remaining jewelry to the gown, centering it on the bodice that cut horizontally from shoulder to shoulder, leaving them bare—but frowned as it suddenly occurred to him that the sparkling gems drew the eye to her chest. He found himself a bit annoyed at the realization that other people—men in particular—would likely be staring at that spot on his wife. The sable-maned man opened his mouth to say something, but the brunette woman moved to the mirror to look in it.

"Ohhh...they're so beautiful, Adam, _thank _you!" Eve enthused. His objection died on his lips, which were soon engaged in his wife's physical expression of gratitude.

"I'll wear them only for tonight, though," she murmured when she'd pulled away from Adam. "Since this _is_ the first night of the celebration..._Adam_..?" Her question was uttered when he took her by the shoulders and pulled her against him again.

"You thanked me for the bracelet," Adam pointed out, "But there's also the pin...and the dress...and the petticoats...and the—" He punctuated each item on the list with a kiss, but Eve cut him off before he could begin naming her individual items of lingerie by throwing her arms around his neck and returning his buss with passion.

"Eve! Adam! The guests are arrivin'!" Mother MacGruder's voice called out from the other side of the door. The couple sighed regretfully and went to greet the newcomers, pretending not to notice Elvira's knowing smirk when they emerged from their bedroom.

HOSS CARTWRIGHT, DRIVING a two-seater, dropped Hop Sing off at his oldest brother's house and then drove on to town to collect his fiancée for the premier of the extended party. He couldn't keep the bright, sunny grin from his face as he anticipated making their engagement official. In his pocket was a box that held a ring he and Mercy had selected from Mr. Hagermann's jewelry store together earlier in the week—an oval emerald surrounded by four round diamonds in a delicate gold setting. Hoss had insisted on the emerald because it matched Mercy's eyes.

As of tonight—right after Ben made the official announcement at the party—Mercy would be wearing that ring, publicly declaring her intention to become the middle Cartwright brother's bride.

Hoss thought back to last week's supper after the Sunday service: the entire family had come together to welcome Mercy into their midst and, for a moment or two, Hoss swore that the jet-tressed young lady was going to burst into tears. However, between the twins tugging at Mercy's sleeve and the other womenfolk eagerly chirping about this subject or that, she had thankfully been prevented from doing that...or much of anything else while the couple was at the Ponderosa.

She had been very attentive on the ride back when he had started asking her questions about what she wanted in a kitchen and her thoughts about having an attached bath house on the cabin he was converting for their use. Mercy had almost seemed on the verge of crying again at one point, but then she threw her arms around Hoss and kissed him until he forgot about everything else.

He couldn't wait to see what the ride home from the party was going to be like!

JOE CARTWRIGHT CHECKED over the harness rig of the horses that were attached to the family surrey. Everything was sound and tight, so he led the animals and the vehicle to the hitching rail in front of the house and secured them there before going indoors in order to finish getting ready for the party that would taking place over the next few days.

The entire family was looking forward to celebrating the milestones being honored by the party: the marriages of Pa to Cassandra and Adam to Eve...the soon-to-be-officially-announced engagement of Hoss to Mercy Harris...and, last (but not least) the adoption of Gabriel and Naomi.

Joe's face flushed as he recalled his initial reaction to hearing Cassie agree to have Ben become the legal father to the Callahan brood: horror.

He had already been wrestling with the moral dilemma of being attracted to Rebecca Callahan when she was the daughter of his father's wife, and—thus—his stepsister. The moment the brunet young man realized the basis of his feelings for Becky, the comfort that the Good Book usually gave him had all but disappeared, leaving only the despair and certainty that Joseph was surely bound to spend the hereafter in the bowels of a lake of fire for the urges that kept rearing their ugly heads every time he was within proximity of the blond girl for more than a minute (sometimes less!) However, the announcement that his Pa would be formally adopting the Callahan minors sounded a death knell on any chances of Joe possibly redeeming himself.

He recalled watching as Gabe and Naomi squealed for joy at the prospect of having Ben as their "official" Papa—the twins were jumping up and down and hugging Ben, Cassie and each other over and over again.

"Isn't it sweet?" Becky sighed with a smile on her face as she watched. "The children are so happy...I never realized how important it was for them to feel like part of a whole family." Joe couldn't seem to muster the enthusiasm that Gabriel and Naomi were showing. However, he realized that he had to at least be polite.

"So...when will you officially become 'Cartwright'?" Joe asked. Becky blinked at him.

"Oh..._I'm_ not." she told him. "Uncle Ben is adopting the twins...they need it the most. I'm staying 'Callahan' until I marry." Joe's shock and near-collapse from relief was missed by the blond girl because the twins chose that particular moment to expand their happy dance to include their sister and Becky was whisked away into the celebratory jig.

Yes, Joe was very narrowly saved from eternal damnation thanks to Becky's quick thinking, although she had been acting to keep Cassandra from becoming more upset rather than comforting Joe about his anxiety.

Joe dressed in black slacks and highly-buffed black boots, over which he wore a white dress shirt, a green-and-gold embroidered vest and a black string tie. He knew he was looking his best—as he should for this family-oriented celebration—and he hoped the attention he would invariably attract from the girls at the party would help him keep his mind off Becky.

Yeah..._right._

BECKY CALLAHAN HELPED her younger brother and sister with the final details of their own party outfits: Naomi was looking very nice and ladylike in her crisp linen pinafore over a frock that had a pretty red-and-gold flower design in the material, while Gabriel was emulating his soon-to-be "official" Papa and wearing a brocade vest over his gray slacks and white shirt. At present, however, he was ruining the effect by squirming around as Becky tied his string tie around his neck.

"Awww...do I _hafta_...?" Gabe demanded petulantly. Becky raised an eyebrow at him as she finished with the neckwear.

"It's the first night and all the gentlemen there will be wearing ties," his older sister told him firmly.

"But it's choking me..!" he insisted, gagging. Becky knew perfectly well that his tie was not too tight.

"All right, then," the young woman conceded, "I can understand how a tie isn't something a little boy would want to wear..." Gabe reached up to yank off the offending garment when he realized what his sister had just said.

"Hey! I'm _not _a little boy!" he denied hotly, a mutinous expression on his face. Becky bent down and stared straight into a pair of eyes the exact same color as her own.

"All the men in our family will be wearing ties, Gabe," she told him firmly, "The only ones who can't are little boys." She reached out as though to untie the bow she'd just made. Gabe, however, pulled back.

"I'm wearin' this tie, then," the lad declared, scooting out of the room, "An' nothin' you can say will make me change my mind!" Both of his sisters watched him go with smiles on their faces.

"Boys are so silly!" Naomi said with a giggle. "He couldn't see what you wanted at all." Becky giggled with her little sister, although in the back of her mind there was another boy—definitely older and, unfortunately, justifiably resistant.

Joe had been remarkably cautious whenever he and Rebecca found themselves in situations where it was only the two of them. Becky knew this was for the best, but she also knew that it was getting harder and harder for them to maintain their decorum around each other.

"You're right, Naomi," Becky agreed with a soft sigh. "Boys often can't see what you want at all." She grinned down at the younger female and held out a hand.

"Let's get going," Becky said brightly. "I'm pretty sure that Joe's got the surrey all hitched up already." Naomi clasped her hand and chattered excitedly as the two girls made their way downstairs. Becky's mind, however, was on what she would have to be doing tonight and for the next several days: sizing up and then picking out viable candidates for her to marry.

Hopefully someone suitable would be in the throngs sure to be attending the celebration...although Becky had to concede that she held little hope there would be a man who could measure up to the standards set by the men in her family.

MERCY HARRIS CAREFULLY inspected her reflection in the mirror. Her current economic circumstances dictated that she wear her only formal gown again. She had managed to obtain a length of nice lace and used it to embellish the gown so that it didn't look exactly the same as it had before. The jet-tressed young lady shook her head at the thought of wearing the same dress over and over, but the situation for her was unavoidable at present.

As a way to relieve her anxiety over tonight's intended announcement of her engagement to Hoss, Mercy allowed herself a flight of fancy about how her one gown could be worn over and over again, not only at different events but in different years...even by different women! Such an absurd figment of her imagination made her laugh!

Mercy's hair was carefully combed, rolled and contained in a snood made of finely crocheted chenille with white satin rosettes over each of her ears. She may not patronize a designer here in in the Nevada territory, but Mercy knew that her appearance was smart enough to do Hoss proud, and that was what mattered to her.

A twinge of conscience struck her just then, for she had yet to make her confession to her fiancé. Hoss and his family were still unaware of her past and she knew in her heart that they had every right to know...but her not-wholly-unjustified fear of what could happen made Mercy put off the inevitable time and again. She had been especially cowed by the revelation that Hoss had made to her about Nathan Riley and his father, Amos about a week ago.

Nathan had been unmercifully taunting the Callahan twins about their "illegality", saying horrible things not only about Ben and Cassandra, but also about the twins' natural mother. It had gotten to the point where even the threat of Mercy wielding the discipline paddle hadn't dissuaded Nate to stop his awful talk. Instead of paddling the boy, however, the teacher had sent word to Amos of Nathan's persistent behavior. The farmer turned up at the school not even an hour afterwards and gravely called his boy to his side...borrowing that paddle from Mercy and taking Nate out of the schoolhouse.

The paddling itself was not witnessed by any of Nate's classmates, but it was enough for them to know that Amos had done so, and confirmed when Nate returned and asked to remain standing for the rest of the day.

Since that incident, Nate didn't speak about or even to the Callahan children nor their parents, natural or adopted. Mercy told Hoss the details when they were driving Saturday afternoon and was surprised by the thoughtfully somber look on his face.

"It's an extreme sort of discipline, Hoss, I have to admit..." Mercy said, faltering to a stop when Hoss shook his head.

"It is, Mercy, but that's not what's on my mind," he told her. "I'm thinking that young Nate was probably being mean because of his own mama...and Amos likely pointed that out to him when he paddled the boy."

"I...I don't understand."

"Of course you don't—you weren't in Virginia City when it happened," Hoss conceded with a nod. "You see...Tina Riley left her family almost four years ago. Folks talked all about how she run off with a whiskey drummer, only they didn't really know the whole truth. Pa and Amos...they're good friends, so Pa was the one that found out the truth: Tina did run off with that traveling salesman—but only after she'd been seeing him behind Amos' back for several years...long enough so's that there's a good chance that Nate may not be the son of Amos."

"Oh, my!" Mercy gasped.

"And if that weren't enough," Hoss continued, "Tina made Nate help her cover up the drummer's visits to their house...and it was Nate who had to tell Amos about it the day Tina run off."

"That poor boy..!" the school teacher fretted, wringing her hands. Hoss reached out and patted them with his own.

"Don't take on so, Mercy," he assured her. "Amos getting firm with his son in public was what Nate needed, I think...cuz I know it doesn't matter to Amos whether Nate is his own natural son or not—Amos thinks of himself as Nate's father, and that's what he had to prove to the boy."

"How do you know, Hoss?" Mercy asked.

"Amos said so to Pa," Hoss answered. "He said the only thing he couldn't cotton to was how Tina had lied to him—not to mention making her own child cover up those lies, too. Amos told Pa that he probably would've forgiven Tina her dalliance, but he could never forgive her for being so deceitful...not that I can blame him a-tall for that. Her lies hurt not just Amos but her own son, too...they were selfish and destructive. I don't think I could've forgiven her if I'd been in Amos' shoes."

Mercy had been rather thoughtful for the rest of the day, but not because she was still feeling sorry for Nathan Riley...no, it was because she knew she had racked up a few falsehoods herself and she had no idea how to explain it to Hoss. Every time she summoned the courage to attempt to start, something would happen and Mercy would end up chickening out on her opportunity.

Tonight, however...tonight she would tell him...

..._after_ they announced their engagement.

MAVREEN O'DONNELL RETURNED to the rooms in the Palace Hotel of Virginia City, Nevada, where her mistress of almost twenty years had been living for the past few months. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Mavreen was a sturdy young working lass who prided herself on the fact that she was a personal maid to a great lady of Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America. She'd been proud to be a domestic in a mansion for one of the premiere families of the state—until that dark and horrid day six years ago...the day that nigh drove the mistress mad with grief and rage.

Aye, 'twas a long road from Baltimore to Virginia City, and Mavreen had done her utmost to convince the mistress that they were on the road to an unhappy end if the mistress persisted in chasing down her demons...but the mistress could not be dissuaded from her chosen path. Instead, the lady had given two pieces of a prized set of heirloom jewelry to a pair of reprobates and scoundrels. Mavreen still hadn't been able to prise the information from the mistress about what had been discovered...most likely because the mistress suspected that Mavreen still felt loyalty towards Miss Mercy.

The mistress would have been correct about that, but still the Irish maid was cross with herself—she hadn't been able to find out what the mistress had in mind nor why they were in a town of the Wild West rather than in the genteel suburbs of Maryland. Even in the midst of the Reconstruction that was occurring, Baltimore was infinitely preferable to Nevada. Mavreen entered the suite and called out her arrival as she closed the door.

"I got some white grosgrain for ye, ma'am," she announced as she removed her cloak and reached for the strings of the bonnet tied under her chin. "But there was nary a colored ribbon t'be found—all such notions have been snapped up by the locals...seems there's a rich rancher throwing a party for the terri...tory..." Mavreen suddenly realized that the suite was devoid of the mistress.

This was _not_ good, for the only times that the mistress had ever ventured outside the room unaccompanied by the maidservant were those times towards the beginning of their sojourn here, when the mistress would go out in the company of those two terribly shady men. For the last few weeks, however, the men had disappeared from Virginia City and the mistress had seemed to be almost serene, happy to remain in the room while Mavreen went about her business of securing needed items and such.

The Irishwoman's eyes scanned the sitting room, searching out a clue as to where the mistress may have gone. Her blue eyes caught the glint of silver in front of the fireplace: the flash of reflected light from the frame of a small portrait. Mavreen rushed to where the ornate metal frame lay, picking it up from where it had been flung to the floor, most likely in a fit of rage and madness, dread seizing her heart.

The maid ran from the room, running to the service desk and asking the desk clerk there if he had ever seen the lady in the portrait, shoving the frame into the man's hands. He squinted at the likeness and frowned, shaking his head.

"No, can't say's I have..." he admitted, blinking as the picture was snatched from his grip almost before his sentence was finished. Mavreen pelted out of the hotel, glancing desperately about in a bid to figure out whom she should attempt to ask about the lady in the portrait. Making up her mind, she tore off down the street to where she recalled seeing a sign hanging over a small, cramped-looking building with bars on its windows. Yes—there it was: _VIRGINIA CITY JAIL, Roy Coffee, Sheriff._

"Sheriff! Sheriff!" Mavreen shrieked upon hurling herself into the front office. The lanky young man she'd startled off the chair he'd been leaning back in picked himself off the floor and glowered at her.

"Sheriff ain't here," he said curtly. "He's gone to the Cartwright party. I'm the deputy—can I help ya?"

"I hope so," Mavreen cried, pushing the portrait into the deputy's hands. "I need t'find this lady...'tis a matter o' life and death!" Like the desk clerk before him, the deputy stared down at the contents of the frame, frowning as his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Ya know..." he said, his eyebrows drawing together, "...it's a real humdinger, here—but I could swear this is Mercy Harris."

"Ye know Miss Mercy?" Mavreen gasped, hope surging in her breast. "Ye know where she is?"

"Why, ma'am," the deputy replied, "Of course I know where she is—she's at the Ponderosa...people say she's gonna be engaged to Hoss Cartwright."

"Harris...her name is Harris here?" the maid echoed, then shook her head to clear it of the sluggish stupidity that insisted upon surrounding her thoughts. "Deputy, please—we _must_ get to where Miss Mercy is! Somethin' terrible is going to happen unless we stop it!"


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER "TWELVE"**

"MY GOODNESS, HOSS," Mercy gasped as the big man escorted her into Adam's house, "It looks like the entire population of Nevada is here!" Hoss cast a knowing cerulean eye over the throng that was assembled in the courtyard and within the very large living area of the house proper.

"Not the _entire_ population," he corrected her with a grin. "But just about everyone within a hundred miles of the Ponderosa, I think. A party like this one is a big draw for folks." The middle Cartwright brother continued to look around the area, finally heaving a satisfied breath. Hoss then directed Mercy to where Ben, Cassandra and Adam were standing by the huge fieldstone fireplace that, reminiscent of the one at the main house of the Ponderosa, dominated the room.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," Adam teased Hoss, eliciting a deep blush from his younger brother. Mercy spoke up immediately.

"It isn't his fault we arrived...fashionably late," the jet-tressed lady said quickly. "I...I lost an earbob." Three pairs of eyes went to the pearl drops that were affixed to her ears. "Hoss...helped me to find it."

This was, indeed, true—Hoss had been the one to find her lost earring. Of course, what neither Hoss nor Mercy were admitting was that Hoss had been the one to lose the earring in the first place: they'd stopped in order to indulge in a few kisses before having to spend the night under the watchful eyes of the public and Hoss had gotten a bit carried away.

"How gallant!" Cassandra approved with a smile. "Hoss is always so very helpful." The look that passed between the affianced couple generated knowing smiles from the older people present, but none of them otherwise challenged the story.

"Say, uh...where's Eve?" Hoss asked in a desperate bid to divert attention away from the subject of the lost earring.

"She went to the kitchen with Hop Sing," Adam told him. "Some sort of problem came up with some of the food."

"Are you sure you don't want me to lend a hand..?" asked Cassandra quickly. "I know a thing or two about having to feed masses of people with a limited supply of food." Adam smiled and bowed his head.

"I remember that you managed Callahan Station for almost a year, Cassandra," he acknowledged, "But thank you anyway—Eve said that she and Hop Sing can handle it." The eldest son actually wasn't completely sure if his wife and the Ponderosa's cook needed assistance or not, but his sharp hazel eyes had noticed that his father had been hovering near Cassandra ever since they'd arrived at the house, and Adam noted that Ben was quick to make sure that anything his bride asked for was procured immediately. Something was up between the two of them...something that prompted Adam to respect Ben's protectiveness towards his wife.

"In that case..." the silver-maned patriarch said, turning to Cassie and holding out his hand, "...if you would permit me the honor of this dance..?" She smiled at Ben, taking his hand so that they could join the couples in the courtyard. Hoss immediately turned to Mercy, escorting her to the dance area in a similar manner. Adam's mouth quirked as he watched his father and brother go off with the women they loved.

"Why aren't ya out there dancin', too, Adam?"

The tall, dark-haired man turned and raised eyebrows at the speaker—his mother-in-law.

"Because my partner of choice is dealing with a crisis in the kitchen, Mother MacGruder," he replied, his hazel eyes twinkling. "Unless you're here to offer yourself as a substitute?" Elvira's own brown eyes sparkled back.

"Son, the only way ya'd be able to dance with me is if ya sit on my lap," she pointed out. "We both know ya're too old for that." Adam chuckled.

"You'd better be careful to whom you make that suggestion, ma'am," he told her, "You never know if they may take you up on the offer." Elvira gave a laugh and shook her graying head.

"Go find my daughter, ya scamp!" she chided him jokingly. "Go on, now—git!" She was still chuckling as Adam willingly followed his mother-in-law's order.

Joe was dancing with...with...oh, _what _was her name? The chestnut-haired young man suppressed a sigh because he didn't want the little lady dancing with him to think he was annoyed with her—he wasn't...he was annoyed with himself. Here it was, barely an hour or so into the first day of the celebration that the Cartwright family would be hosting for most of the week, and already he was fighting an internal battle _not_ to launch himself after Becky and pummel the latest of several different young men she was dancing with. He resorted to mentally chanting a mantra to stave off the inappropriate feelings of jealousy that kept threatening to swamp him:

Stepsister...step_sister_..._stepsister_...

Across the room, the blond young lady who was the focus of the conflicted young Cartwright was repeating her own silent reminder in her head:

Stepbrother...step_brother_..._stepbrother_...

Both Becky and Joe had the feeling that this was going to be an interminably torturous evening. Joe eventually gave his dance partner up to another man and withdrew to the periphery of the crowd in order to pretend that he wasn't brooding about Becky.

Eve was frowning down at the nigh-empty container of molasses as Hop Sing returned from rummaging through the shelves of the pantry.

"No good..." the Chinese man told her with a shake of his head. "Extra molasses is not here."

"We need it for the beef and pigs we're roasting," the brunette woman pointed out the obvious.

"I go to Mr. Cartwright's house," Hop Sing offered. "I know there plenty molasses at house." Eve smiled at him.

"Yes, there _is _plenty of molasses at the house," she agreed, placing a hand on the cook's shoulder and squeezing. "Thank you, Hop Sing. Don't be gone too long—Adam and I want you to enjoy the party, too." The older man grinned at her.

"I would not miss party...miss _the _party..." he corrected his English, "...for all the tea of China!" He departed quickly, eager to get the needed staple and return as soon as possible. Eve looked fondly after Hop Sing for a moment, then roused herself, turning around and exiting the kitchen. Her cocoa-colored eyes scanned the spacious public parlor, searching for and then alighting upon the tall dark man now standing next to the fieldstone fireplace on the north wall of the room. She made her way over to his side, pausing occasionally to nod and murmur greetings to the various neighbors as they came near or acknowledged her with a shout or a wave.

By the time she reached her husband's side, Adam was deep in conversation with a fellow rancher. The topic seemed to be the effect of the ongoing War Between the States and the anticipated legal transformation of Nevada from a Union-sympathetic territory into a Union state.

"I don't see the territory becoming a state until after this brouhaha is settled," Warner Douglas, a rancher whose spread was north of Virginia City, was saying to Adam. "There's just too much of a chance that the South will get support from European sources and rally again." Adam thought a moment and shook his head.

"I don't think so," he disagreed in an even voice. "Gettysburg set the Confederate forces back far too much." Adam grimaced. "Actually, Gettysburg set both sides back in a vicious way, but the Union has blockades very firmly in place. Davis is going to have a devil of a time supplying his troops."

"Pardon me, but Davis is going to have a devil of a time _replacing_ his troops, which would be the most important issue before him in the long run," Eve posited, making both men look at her in surprise. Her husband's lips twitched in a ghost of a smile and he snaked an arm around Eve's waist even as Warner's face reflected a frown.

"War is no talk for women," the man with the carefully-groomed goatee replied stiffly. Eve fixed a mild eye upon him.

"Actually," she countered, "War is no talk for a _party_...too doleful." Warner blinked, then a rueful sort of smile crossed his face.

"I stand corrected," he conceded with a nod. "If you'll excuse me, then, please..?" The other rancher wandered off in the direction of the punch bowl. The brunette turned her face up to Adam's.

"You're not angry?" she asked lightly. "I expressed an unasked-for opinion." The man with her lifted an eyebrow.

"You observed courtesy by begging pardon before speaking," Adam pointed out. "And your opinion was as well-expressed as any man could make it." Now his hazel eyes were smiling down at her. "Besides...you're right...the Confederacy's biggest long-term problem _is_ going to be replacing their manpower."

"Thank you for saying so, Adam."

"I'm merely acknowledging the truth," he told her then changed the subject. "Is that food crisis resolved?"

"No...and yes," Eve said. "We are out of molasses, but Hop Sing has gone to Pa's house to get some more, so we'll have it on hand in time for when the beef and pork are ready to be served."

"Good...I've been directed by Mother MacGruder to dance with you, woman, and she is not one I care to cross." So saying, the sable-maned rancher led his wife out of the house to the courtyard that was being used as the dance floor for the party. There the newlyweds took up their part in a spritely reel, passing Hoss and Mercy as they did so.

JOE HADN'T TOUCHED any of the discreetly spiked punch but his head was buzzing with all the different ideas he was hatching concerning himself and Becky. They ranged from continuing to pretend that he had absolutely no unseemly urges towards the blond to actively grabbing her, running away from home to a place where nobody knew that his father was married to her mother and starting life anew wherever that may be.

None of his schemes were at all viable. He leaned against the trunk of the half-naked cottonwood tree, wincing as the back of his shoulder was jabbed by a horny stub of some long-broken-off branch. After shifting slightly to relocate himself a bit, Joe went back to leaning. Maybe if he leaned long enough, he might come up with a plan that made sense...after all, leaning seemed to work for Adam.

He was concentrating so hard on the impossible situation at hand that Joe didn't hear the approach of a creaky surrey. The brunet man glanced automatically at the vehicle as it passed the tree to pull to a stop near the corral fence located just east of Adam's house—then he stiffened, immediately recognizing two out of the three occupants of the surrey: Harkness and Carter, two disreputable bounty hunters that had caused trouble for the Callahans a few months ago by holding the family hostage while trying to hunt down one of their fugitives. Nostrils flaring, Joe immediately strode towards the rough-looking Harkness, who had disembarked from the surrey.

"Harkness!" growled the youngest Cartwright brother. "What are you doing here?" The unshaven man turned his shark-like eyes onto the young man confronting him and smiled.

"Why, Carter and I are here because your daddy invited everyone in the territory to come!" Harkness declared jovially. The dark-skinned man on the other side of the surrey was assisting the matron with them to climb down from the carriage. Joe glanced at them, seized by the feeling that the lady looked naggingly familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on why. Then he turned his attention back to the first bounty hunter.

"Listen, Harkness," Joe warned him in a low voice, "This is a party—if you're here to try to catch yourself another bounty-" The auburn-haired man assumed an expression of innocence.

"Who? Me?" he asked a trifle mockingly, then he snorted. "I know we have bad blood between us, Cartwright...but I'm not here to get me no bounties. I'm actually here to see that the lady with us got to the party." Joe glowered at the other man but turned and bowed to the woman in their midst. She was a bit on the short side—maybe about five-feet-four-inches tall—with graying brown hair and emerald green eyes.

_'Where have I seen her before?' _Joe thought to himself, although out loud he welcomed the woman to the Ponderosa and inquired after her name.

"Thank you kindly for your gracious hospitality, Mr. Cartwright," the lady replied, the rich drawl of a Southern belle in her voice, "I am Mrs. Eudora Pemberton." Joe bowed again, but the matron caught sight of Ben Cartwright, who was holding up his hands to quiet the crowd.

"Excuse me, if you please," she dismissed Joe and brushed past him, obviously intent upon getting closer in order to listen to him. Joe opted to remain where he could keep an eye on Harkness and Carter, not trusting the pair at all.

MERCY ONLY HAD eyes for Hoss, just peripherally noting that Adam and his elegantly-garbed wife had swept past her to join the couples taking part in the lively dance. Hoss was looking handsome and happy, a combination that absorbed all her attention. The jet-tressed lady was feeling a bit giddy and, buoyed by the obvious high spirits of her partner, Mercy gave in to an impish whim: under the guise of taking up his hand in order to execute the next series of spins called for in the dance, tickled his palm.

Hoss bit back a yelp of surprise, his sky-blue eyes widening before his smile turned into a face-splitting grin. Other than a slight falter in his step, however, the biggest Cartwright brother didn't stop dancing. He waited until Mercy had spun back to his side, where he was to take her right hand in his own and, putting his left arm around behind her, place his left hand into hers. Mercy was supposed to hold their left hands next to her waist as they danced up the lines made by the couples before parting to become the heads of the respective male and female lines.

Hoss, instead, clasped his hand directly onto her waist and gently kneaded the area, deliberately not looking at his fiancée as she squeaked under the surreptitious caresses. He couldn't resist sneaking a glance at her as they progressed up the alley formed by the other dancers: Mercy's face was flushed but she was definitely smiling. When they took up their places at the heads of their respective lines, she favored the sandy-haired man with a smoldering emerald regard that made Hoss decide that he wasn't going to wait until Pa made his speech before placing the engagement ring on her finger.

The song ended amidst a round of applause and enthusiastic cheers; Mercy found her hands seized and herself propelled away from the bulk of the crowd. Hoss was hauling them over to one side of the immediate area, not stopping until the couple was right next to the southwest corner of the house, near the windows of the dining room.

"Hoss Cartwright!" Mercy said, laughing. "That was grossly unfair of you to touch me like that!"

"Gross...?" he prompted, leaning down. Mercy automatically pursed her lips unconsciously as she thought of synonyms.

"Gross...arrant, egregious, extreme..." she began to explain, but caught sight of the fire that leaped into Hoss' eyes, "...oh, no, you don't! We're in public, sir, and not even officially engaged yet!" The schoolmarm nixed his obvious intent to kiss her in spite of her own longing to do so. Hoss captured her left hand in his right.

"I aim to fix that right this minute," he told her firmly, bringing her hand up to his mouth and very deliberately pressing his lips to her ring finger. Mercy's eyes widened, darkening as Hoss drew out the kiss by moving his mouth across her skin in a calculated caress that succeeded in turning her knees to water. He lifted his head and then produced the emerald ring they'd chosen to symbolize their betrothal. Hoss then kissed the ring as well and—his eyes never leaving hers—slid the ring home on her finger.

Mercy was sure that the heavens had parted right at that moment and a bolt of celestial lightning had lanced her from above, for she was suddenly consumed by a savagely joyful heat.

"I love you, Mercy...for always," Hoss said sincerely, his voice rumbling through her body and soul. Her freshly be-ringed hand clutched tightly at the large one holding it.

"I love you, Hoss...for always," she echoed, her heart in her eyes. Neither of them gave a thought as to where they were or who was there, they simply drew closer together...closer...closer...

"Don't make me have to test the plumbing by hauling over buckets of cold water to use on you two..." The laconic voice of Older Brother startled the couple apart. Adam's accompanying expression, however, was empathetic as was that of Eve, who was standing there with him.

"Naw, you managed to put out the fire all on your own, thank you very much," Hoss admitted begrudgingly.

"Pa will have your hide if you do anything like that before he makes his announcement," the eldest of the Cartwright brothers added. A flash of impatience crossed the younger man's face. Mercy, as the siblings bantered, stepped back and retrieved her hand from within her fiancé's grasp.

"Don't worry, nobody saw you," Eve assured the teacher, smiling. "I'm pretty sure that Pa will be making the official announcement soon...oh, and a belated welcome to our house, Mercy!" The dark-haired young lady lifted her face to the taller female.

"Thank...you..." Mercy's voice died away and the color suddenly drained from her face, her eyes seemingly riveted to the middle of Eve's chest. The brunette's brows drew together in concern.

"Mercy? Are you all right..?" she asked, clasping Mercy's shoulder.

"I...I'm..." the normally garrulous lady floundered for words, "...I'm...wondering where in the world you got that...lovely French Baroque-period brooch? It...it just goes so very well with your gown." Eve's eyes dropped to the pretty sapphire-and-diamond pin at the front of her blue ball gown.

"Thank you, Mercy," Eve replied, "I think it's lovely, too. Adam gave it to me tonight before the party."

"Where are the bracelets, necklace and earbobs?" prompted Mercy, her face still an alarming shade of pale.

"There...there's _**a**_ bracelet..." Eve answered as she lifted her left hand to show the matching piece and saw the jet-tressed woman lose even more color from her face. "But these are the only two pieces I have." Mercy blinked.

"They're lovely, just lovely," she mumbled, then turned to Hoss. "Hoss...can we get some punch? That...that dance has left me fair parched."

"Sure," Hoss agreed, puzzled and concerned by the way Mercy looked. He excused himself and escorted Mercy over to where a table had been set up for dispensing punch.

"What's on your mind, Eve?" Adam asked, already recognizing the thoughtful expression on his wife's face after only a few weeks of marriage. She drew in her breath before answering.

"Adam, when you got me the jewelry, exactly what did you find out about the pieces?"

"Well...Mr. Hagermann said they were French...made about a hundred or a hundred-twenty-five years ago."

"French Baroque," Eve mumured. Adam blinked.

"Why...yes..." he agreed, recalling the term from when he studied architecture in college, "...Mr. Hagermann also told me that the pin and bracelet were part of a set that included another bracelet...a necklace...and he even used the very same name for the earrings-_'earbobs'_..." His hazel eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Mercy recognized what I was wearing, Adam," his wife said in a low voice. "And it was obviously not a pleasant sort of surprise for her."

"True enough—I thought she was on the verge of swooning for a moment," he conceded. "And, come to think of it...Mr. Hagermann said that he'd bought the jewelry from a man—a 'rough man', whom he suspected had stolen the items until a woman with the rest of the set came in and vouched for the stranger. " The dark-haired man weighed the variables in his head.

"Something has Mercy concerned," Adam said with a nod. "But...this jewelry was sold to Mr. Hagermann months ago...if this 'rough man' was someone that Mercy was worried about, surely it would have come to light before now?" Eve sighed and shrugged.

"That would make sense," she capitulated. "But we both saw her reaction to the jewelry—so we should be prepared in case Hoss needs our help." Adam shifted before he gave a single bob of his head.

"After the party," he proposed, "We should probably see if Mercy isn't willing to let us know what it is about the jewelry—or possibly the man—that bothers her."

"Good idea..." Eve agreed in spite of the shiver of foreboding that wouldn't quite go away.

IT WAS A very solicitous Hoss who escorted Mercy to a bench near the table that held the punch bowl. He hurried away to get her the drink she actually didn't need. No, what the schoolmarm needed was a commodity that she was now certain she had run completely out of: _time._ The appearance of the brooch and the bracelet that were part of the Pemberton sapphires had been a sign from the Almighty that Mercy needed to confess her sins of the past. The jet-tressed young lady squeezed her eyes shut against the shock and pain of that reminder. She had dawdled and squandered her earlier opportunities because of her selfish desire to bask in the sunshine of happiness...to wallow in the euphoria of knowing that Hoss loved her and wanted to make her his wife...to hope that she could one day be called "Mrs. Cartwright" instead of-

"Miss Harris?"

Mercy's emerald eyes snapped open and she stared at Naomi and Gabriel Callahan—both of them having uttered her name in unison—and, for an irrational moment, cursed the fates that would soon be allowing the children to legally become Cartwrights. Mercy quailed at the very real possibility that such an opportunity would be denied to her after she spoke to Hoss. However, the youngsters were looking expectantly at her now.

"Y-yes, children?" she acknowledged, forcing a smile to her lips.

"Miss Harris," Gabe said, peering closely at the teacher, "Are you all right?"

"I...I'm fine, thank you, Gabriel," Mercy lied through her teeth. The twins looked unconvinced.

"You look kinda tummy sick," Naomi qualified. The woman on the bench drew in her breath and modified her untruth a bit.

"I...I think the dancing made me feel a bit...unwell," she told them. "Hoss is getting me a cup of punch. I...I should feel better after I sip some, I believe." Mercy again forced her lips to curve...and the children again looked dubious.

"Here's your punch, Mercy," Hoss interrupted the standoff as he approached with a cup in hand and presented it to her before turning to the children. "Say, I think I saw someone putting out some molasses cookies over at the table...if you go real quick and ask real polite, you can probably have one or two of 'em." The twins shared a grin and ran off with a quick "thanks, Hoss!" Mercy couldn't help but clutch the cup she was pretending to sip from, an unwarranted vision of Hoss amiably handling his own children in an equally clever manner flashing across her mind's eye.

_'Tell him! Tell him!'_ Her conscience prodded her. Mercy drew in her breath to do so.

"Hoss, I-"

"Are you feeling better, Mercy?" he asked anxiously, perching himself on the seat next to her and turning towards her. "You looked peaky there...in fact, you still do. You aren't coming down with something, are you?"

"No, Hoss, but I-"

"I mean...you aren't...you aren't changing your mind...about _us_...are you?" The look on the man's face made Mercy want to laugh and cry at the same time. Change her mind? About the most wonderful thing to ever happen to her in her whole life? That assumption of his made her want to laugh...but her guilty conscience definitely was pulling more for Mercy bursting into tears. She breathed in deeply.

"Hoss...I love you...I am _not _about to change my mind about that," the dark-haired woman told him emphatically.

"Oh, good!" Hoss said, letting out a long, whooshing breath of pent-up worry.

"But, Hoss," Mercy continued, putting aside the cup on the far end of the bench and grasping both his hands in hers, "There's something I need to tell you...something you need to know about me..." She leaned forward, her grip on his hands tightening.

"Aw, Mercy," Hoss replied with a tender smile, "I'm just glad you didn't change your mind."

"Hoss," the schoolteacher from Maryland stated softly, "I should have told you before, but I was-"

"Come along, you two!" boomed the robust voice of Ben Cartwright right beside them. "I see from the ring on Mercy's finger that you just can't wait, Hoss, so let's just get the announcements over with, hmmm?" The largest Cartwright leaped to his feet, then pulled Mercy to a standing position.

"Yes, sir, Pa!" Hoss agreed eagerly. Mercy wasn't sure how to respond, but realized that she'd have to wait until after Ben was done speaking before following through with her intention to reveal to Hoss her life before coming to Nevada.

Ben, meanwhile, had crossed over to where the band had been playing and was holding up his hands to get everyone's attention. The sizable throng fell silent. The beaming patriarch of the Ponderosa began his speech:

"My dear friends and neighbors," he announced in his commanding bass, "I'm so very honored and grateful that you've accepted my invitation to come and share the news of my family's most recent developments. First, I am proud to announce that I am wed to the most gracious, compassionate and wonderful woman in the land...my wife, Cassandra Callahan Cartwright." Ben held out his hand and drew forth a blushing but unbowed Cassie to his side, nodding his head in acknowledgment of the applause and cheers aimed at the couple. He brought her hand to his lips as their eyes met, sharing a smile that was theirs alone before turning back to the assembly.

"Second, I'm pleased to also announce that Naomi and Gabriel Callahan will soon become my children not merely in my own heart, but in the eyes of the law as well." This announcement was punctuated by whooping and screeches of approval from the twins, who promptly launched themselves at Ben. The silver-maned rancher scooped up the pair of children and hugged them tightly before putting them back down again and nudging them in the direction of Becky, who knelt and held out her arms so that they could race back into them and continue to get hugs while Ben made the rest of his announcements.

"My family continues to grow," Ben said with a smile, "Because my eldest son Adam has, himself, taken a bride. May I present Mr. and Mrs. Adam and Eve Cartwright..?" At this, Adam moved forward to his father's side with Eve on his arm. Once there, Ben pressed a kiss to one of Eve's cheeks, murmuring a welcome to the Cartwright clan as the party-goers clapped.

"Hey, Adam," called out a voice from the back of the crowd that sounded suspiciously like Sam Vernon, "Are you and Eve gonna start your own 'garden of Eden', then?" The joke generated a good deal of laughter. Adam smirked.

"Funny you should mention that," he answered, loud and clear, "Eve and I were thinking of dubbing our place 'Eden Acres'." It took a while before the resulting applause and good-natured ribbing died down.

"And, finally, I'm also happy to publicly announce the engagement of my second son, Hoss, to the lovely Miss Mercy Harris." Ben swept an arm out towards where Hoss and the schoolmarm were standing. Hoss turned to Mercy with a tender expression and offered her his arm in a manner as courtly as any gentleman in the ballrooms of Baltimore. Mercy forgot everything else and laid her relatively tiny hand on his forearm, allowing Hoss to escort her to where his father stood. Ben beamed down at the jet-tressed young lady.

"Welcome to the family, Mercy," Ben greeted her earnestly. "I can't imagine anyone more suited to bring my son happiness." Since Mercy was only a fiancée instead of an actual wife, Ben didn't kiss her but reached up a hand to touch her cheek in a gesture that any father would use to express tenderness toward his daughter.

"And I can't imagine anyone more suited to bring your son _ruin,_ Mr. Cartwright!" a voice cried out—a voice that was cold, haughty and clearly heard over the murmurs of the crowd as they parted to allow the speaker to pass. Ben watched as the speaker—a woman who looked to be in her late forties and dressed in a royal blue gown fit for a New Orleans fancy dress ball...the lady's accent put him of a mind that she was definitely from the South.

"Adam..." Eve whispered to her husband, who nodded imperceptibly. Both of them couldn't help but notice that the Southern matron was wearing earrings, a necklace and a single bracelet of sapphires and diamonds—the rest of the set that Eve had on. Adam's hazel eyes shifted to where Mercy stood, clutching his younger brother's hand and looking as white as snow.

"I see the necklace," he murmured back to his wife.

"But, Adam...she's so _familiar..."_ Eve hissed. He froze a moment, then nodded agreement. The woman's face _did _seem to give Adam the feeling that he ought to know her from somewhere...only he couldn't remember where.

"And whom might you be, madam?" inquired Ben of the newcomer. She dropped a deep, graceful curtsy as she answered demurely:

"I am Mrs. Eudora Pemberton of Baltimore, Maryland, sir."

"_Pemberton?"_ gasped Cassie. "Your husband...was he..?"

"Marcellus Pemberton..." the newcomer clarified. Ben's concern grew when his wife turned shocked gray eyes towards him. While "Pemberton of Baltimore" meant absolutely nothing to him, it was clear that Cassandra recognized it.

"What do you mean by interrupting our celebration, Mrs. Pemberton?" Ben demanded gruffly.

"I mean to keep your son from ruin, Mr. Cartwright," the elegant lady said, but her eyes didn't look at the senior rancher as she spoke—the icy emerald regard was leveled at Mercy, never wavering as she spoke. "I came here to expose a fraud-"

"No..." Mercy whispered.

"-a charlatan-"

"I'm _not_..."

"-a humbug-"

"Please..._please_ don't..." the raven-maned young lady's voice broke as she begged, burying her face into her hands, slumping as Mrs. Pemberton continued:

"-a criminal of the first order!" Hoss, who stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Mercy's violently trembling body, felt his protective instincts roused.

"Why are you telling such lies about Mercy?" he bellowed. Eudora Pemberton's eyes narrowed.

"_**I**_ am not the liar, sir, _she_ is!" the matron's voice dripped with disdain. Hoss released Mercy and took an angry step towards the older female—woman or not, he wasn't about to let her continue to blacken Mercy's good name.

"Mrs. Pemberton, you better take your lies and-" the largest Cartwright began to grate out, but he was interrupted.

"Stop!" Mercy said in a tear-choked voice. Hoss fell silent. "She...she isn't...lying, Hoss. I...I was...trying to tell you...before...but...but I couldn't." The dark-haired schoolmarm looked miserable.

"Tell them who you really are," Mrs. Pemberton ordered. Mercy's lips quivered and her shoulders slumped once more.

"I...am Mercy...Pemberton."

"Oh, my God!" Cassandra gasped, prompting Ben to put his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Tell them where you've spent the last six years," Mrs. Pemberton insisted. Mercy held out a hand in appeal to the steely-eyed matron.

"Please..."

"_Tell _them!"

Mercy's hand dropped to her side.

"I've been...in the Bayside State Prison...in Maryland."

"Tell them why."

"I was serving time...for murder."

"That's not _good _enough, Mercy," Eudora advanced on the defeated young woman, reaching out and grabbing Mercy by the elbows, her voice becoming strident. "Tell them what you did—_tell _them!" The jet-tressed beauty lifted tear-filled eyes to meet the stunned gaze of Hoss. When she answered, it was in a monotone that nevertheless carried to all ears present:

"I shot my father...in the back."


	13. Chapter 13

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: I normally release my chapters once per week, but I missed last week's deadline...so here is the next chapter to make up for that. Enjoy. 8)_

**CHAPTER "THIRTEEN"**

HOSS CARTWRIGHT CONTEMPLATED the great depthless dark bowl of the star-strewn sky above him, the rest of his senses on the alert for the rogue cougar that he was helping to hunt down. The rest of the hunting party was getting in some much-needed sack time, for they were three days tracking the big cat that had killed almost a dozen head of cattle and—more urgently—had attacked young Philip Brenner, whose left arm would now never be fully functional again. It had taken an emergency of this magnitude to pull the big man from the side of his fiancée at this time, for every instinct within him had screamed for him to defend her against everyone else in Virginia City if need be.

After Mrs. Pemberton appeared and Mercy had made her public confession, all hell had busted loose: Eudora sank into Mercy's arms in a faint, the guests present began babbling loudly and there was a knock on the door that heralded the appearance of Clem, Roy Coffee's deputy, and a woman who introduced herself as Mavreen O'Donnell. Mercy called to Mavreen, making it obvious that the two women knew each other. Doc Martin came forward and directed that the swooning woman be placed in a bedroom, so Mother MacGruder showed the way to her own quarters, offering it up for the physician's use.

Adam and Joe then herded the guests out of the house and helped send them off for this evening. Hop Sing took charge of the twins, sensing that an adult family discussion was forthcoming, and whisked the three of them off to the kitchen for some food. This left everyone with the exception of Elvira—and Mercy, Eudora and Mavreen—in the comfortable living room of the house.

"Hoss..." Eve started to say, lifting a hand to his shoulder and looking at him with such empathy that he'd had to turn away or simply burst into tears. Such a display of emotion from him in front of his father and brothers wasn't seemly, though, so he withdrew to stand by the fireplace.

"I don't believe it," the big man said, his tone quiet but ringing with sincerity.

"Hoss, for cryin' out loud!" Joe exclaimed in irritation. "The woman confessed to murder!"

"She did _not!"_ Hoss denied quickly, his teeth and fists clenching.

"She said she shot him in the back," Joe reminded him hotly. "That's murder in _my_ book."

"Stop it." Ben's voice interrupted his sons when Hoss had taken a step toward his younger brother. "We're only upsetting ourselves...we really don't know all the facts." He glanced at his wife. "Cassandra...you seemed to recognize Mrs. Pemberton...is there something you know about this?"

"I don't know Mrs. Pemberton, Ben," Cassie told him, "I...I know _of _her...of her family and what had occurred about six years ago. Let's sit down and I'll tell you all about it." The silver-maned patriarch handed his wife to the couch and sat down beside her, holding her hand in his own as she spoke.

"Six years ago, if I remember correctly, Virginia City didn't officially exist," Cassie began, pausing until Ben inclined his silver head to confirm her statement. "So I'm not surprised that you all wouldn't know the name, because you would have had to have access to a reliable newspaper."

"The _Territorial Enterprise_ didn't get started until just before the Comstock Lode was discovered," Ben agreed.

"Six years ago, the newspapers were full of the story of how Marcellus Pemberton, a Baltimore shipping magnate, was shot down in cold blood by his only child," Cassandra's voice was low but steady. "I had access to several different newspapers, and I must issue a caveat: each of them had a different account of what had happened. The basic premise of the story for all of them was that Mercy Pemberton returned home from having secretly left the house, was confronted by her parents and then she somehow shot her father in the back. The story was sensationalized so that some papers claimed that Mercy had actually plotted the murder of her father for love of...well, the candidates ranged from a servant in her household through to a black-sheep third cousin of the family...other publications claimed that Mercy had done it for the money...and still others claimed that Mercy had a nervous breakdown due to the restrictive way in which her father raised her and shot him in a bid to gain her freedom."

During the woman's dialog, the reactions were varied: Adam and Eve exchanged frowns; Becky covered her mouth with a shaky hand; Little Joe crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief; and Ben kept his eyes on Hoss—who didn't move a muscle, maintaining a blank mask over his features.

"I don't understand," Joe said emphatically, "If she went to prison, how is it that she's free now? Murder is a hanging offense...even for a woman. If the story got all over the papers like that, then the trial had to have been almost like a circus, with everyone hearing about it shouting for an execution." Cassandra's gray eyes looked solemnly up at the young man.

"There was _no _trial for Mercy Pemberton," she related evenly. "After being arrested by the authorities, and during the time in which all those lurid accounts about what had supposedly happened were printed, she plead guilty and threw herself on the mercy of the court. The judge declared that she would remain in prison until she reached the age of her majority. The sentence generated more sensational headlines...especially in view of the fact that the proceedings were kept practically secret until after the judge officially sentenced Mercy Pemberton. I believe it had a lot to do with the fact that she had not yet celebrated her sixteenth birthday when she was sentenced."

The silence was palpable...and then shattered by an urgent knock on the door. Adam frowned and crossed to the door, which burst open even as he got there.

"Sorry about bustin' in, Adam," the new arrival apologized: Candy, the foreman of the Ponderosa. "It's just that Dakota's rode up with bad news: there's a cougar up around Razorback Ridge. It's threatening the Brenner family homestead and it's gotten some Ponderosa stock already. We need Hoss to help us track it."

Until that moment, Hoss had been dead-set on staying at Adam's house until he could get to talk to Mercy...but the details of how the killer cat had injured the Brenner boy made it impossible for the Cartwright brothers to remain on the premises, and thus it was that they were now all camping out on Razorback Ridge, searching for a dangerous mountain lion.

Hoss had been volunteering for sentry duty because it gave him the time he needed to sort through the conflicting feelings he had about his personal situation without the glowers and mutterings of Little Joe...or Adam's well-intentioned but stifling hovering over him to get on his nerves.

This was the third night in a row for him to do his thinking, and Hoss found himself returning yet again to his first and foremost conclusion: he loved Mercy. But he knew his love for her wouldn't be enough to counter the ill feelings that her past were bound to stir up in others...including his family. Joe was already in a dither over Mercy's deception. It was something that Hoss probably would have been angry about, too, but his nights of thinking made him realize that Mercy had, indeed, been trying to tell him about this several times before the party...only Hoss had been so fearful that Mercy was about to tell him that they couldn't go on as a couple that he allowed his own insecurities to hustle those opportunities right on by. He had to take at least some of the responsibility for the young lady not being honest with him earlier.

But this still left the quandary of what to do now that Mercy's previous life was common knowledge. If it had been Hoss alone, there would be no debate—he would still marry Mercy in a heartbeat. But...it wasn't just Hoss...there was the rest of the family to consider. How could he ask Ben to sit down at the table with a person who'd admitted to shooting her own father in the back?

Hoss found himself heartily wishing that the cougar they were tracking would pop up and end the man's troubles with a well-aimed attack, because all this thinking wasn't helping Hoss at all. The blood-curdling snarl and sudden flash of tooth and claw in the moonlight made Hoss realize that he'd gotten at least half his wish granted...

CASSANDRA CARTWRIGHT WONDERED if she would ever be able to have a party and _not_ have it end up in utter chaos. The surprise birthday party her children had held for her months ago had ended with a bang—literally—when she'd been forced to halt the impromptu fistfight that had erupted at the celebration by firing off a shotgun...and now the family celebration that the entire community had been kind enough to attend had broken up for the evening after the shocking revelation that Mercy had served time in prison for killing her father.

Ben had elected to remain behind rather than join the hunt for the cougar that was threatening the area. He claimed it was because he was secure in his knowledge that his adult sons could successfully remove the threat without him, but Cassie knew that her husband was staying mostly because she was pregnant. She had waited until after they'd arrived back at their own house and put the twins to bed before speaking to Ben about the subject that was now weighing heaviest on her mind:

"Ben..." the silvered blond came over to where he was initially sitting in his favorite chair and contemplating the fire in the fireplace. Ben stood when he realized she was present and drew her into his arms in a comforting hug.

"Yes, Treasure?"

"Ben...I don't know if I'm comfortable sending the children to school with Mercy as the teacher," she admitted her concern. He pulled back a bit to look at her.

"I...I...I don't know what to say, Cassandra." Clearly the man was flummoxed.

"I don't put much stock in what the newspapers said of the Pemberton tragedy," His wife said firmly. "But...Mercy _herself_ confessed to killing her father...and I do not want the twins exposed to...a murderer." Ben frowned.

"If you want to put a fine point on it," he said carefully, "Then Gabriel and Naomi have already been...'exposed'...to Mercy since the start of the school year. I don't see them exhibiting murderous tendencies." His wife huffed.

"I'm not saying that she was putting violent thoughts into their heads, Ben." Cassandra countered stiffly. "It's just that...well...we don't know what her motives were. The papers were claiming it was a crime of passion...or greed...or desperation. We don't know if any of them are right, but...but if she should...should ever become that emotional again...I don't want my children to be in harm's way." The patriarch nodded reluctantly.

"I...I can't gainsay your concerns, Treasure," Ben conceded. "But we've come to know Mercy over the past few months...she's taken meals with the family! I...just can't fathom her ever harming a hair on any child's head."

"I understand, Ben," his wife said with a sigh, "I find it hard to believe that Mercy could have anything like this in her history...but we both heard her say it herself...and...as fond as I am of Mercy...I will allow nothing and nobody to threaten any child of mine...intentionally or not."

"Of course not," Ben could only agree with her and hold her tight, silently praying that the Good Lord would reveal a satisfactory solution to the situation at hand. They both needed that strength when they explained to the twins the next morning that they wouldn't be attending school for a while. Neither Gabe nor Naomi were at all happy with the announcement—they both loved Mercy as a teacher and seemed to have taken the young lady's confession in stride.

Regardless of that, however, Cassandra refused to allow them to attend school. She couldn't be certain that whatever had driven Mercy to commit her crime would not rear its ugly head while she was with the children, and their welfare had ever been at the forefront of the surrogate mother's thoughts.

So why did Cassie feel as though there was something wrong about sticking to her convictions..?

EVE MADE SURE that her mother was tucked into her side of the bed before climbing into the other side and turning out the lamp on the night table.

"This brings back memories, don't it, Ma?" the brunette's voice was droll. Elvira chuckled.

"Sure does," the paraplegic admitted. "At least this bed is not only bigger but a danged sight less lumpy."

"It's only for as long as Mrs. Permberton has to stay here, Ma."

"I ain't complainin', child...like I said...this bed's a sight better than the one we used to share," the older woman told her firmly, then sighed. "Can't help but feel sorry for Eudora Pemberton an' her daughter, though." Eve nodded then, realizing her mother couldn't see that, agreed out loud.

"I finally figured out that was why Mrs. Pemberton looked so familiar to Adam and me," the younger woman said. "She and Mercy have the same kind of face...the same color eyes." Elvira hummed agreement.

"Ya know that Ralph Foster ain't gonna take kindly to Mercy's past," she pointed out. "Always was a mean ol' cuss, that Ralph." As an influential member of Virginia City's town council and self-appointed constable of good conduct, Ralph Foster was not as popular as he believed himself to be.

"He surely doesn't strike me as the forgiving type," Eve replied, then added curiously: "I have to admit that I just can't picture Mercy gunning down her own pa. What do _you_ think, Ma?"

"I seen Mercy with her ma when we was in my room," Elvira answered. "If I was like to gamble, Eve Jane, I'd wager everything to the last tinder that our schoolmarm loves her mother. She had that look on her face...the one I see on yours whenever ya do for me...yes, indeedy, Mercy loves her ma...and she looked dreadful pained when Mrs. Pemberton was moaning over and over 'why'd ya do it?' "

"That's...just so sad..." Eve replied thoughtfully. Mrs. Pemberton was remaining here at the house because Doc Martin insisted that the woman recover from her overwrought nerves before returning to her room at the Palace Hotel. Mercy had remained the first night but had gone back to Virginia City early Monday morning because the town had no other school teacher available, leaving Mavreen behind to help nurse Eudora. Every afternoon a messenger from Virginia City to inquire about how Mrs. Pemberton was faring, and every afternoon Mavreen would send the man back with two words:

"No change."

Doc Martin had stopped by earlier in the day, examined Mrs. Pemberton and then conferred with Eve and Elvira.

"That woman is still too fragile to go anywhere," the physician insisted. "Once she's able to recover somewhat, I'm recommending that she go to San Francisco. They have places that cater to those who have nervous conditions like this."

"A sanitarium?" Eve asked sharply.

"You could say that," Paul conceded. "But, in this case, Mrs. Pemberton would be going to a private hospital." It had been on the tip of Eve's tongue to say that Mercy, as a school teacher, couldn't possibly afford to send her mother to a private hospital...but then she recalled that Cassandra had told everyone that Marcellus Pemberton had been a shipping magnate. His estate most likely could cover the expenses of Mrs. Permberton going to a facility like that.

Regardless of the wording, Eve didn't like the idea of anyone being sent to a sanitarium—she'd never heard anything good about them. She sighed and wished Adam was here...she missed having his ear to bend as well as his solid warmth to cling to on nights like these.

"Yeah, I know," Elvira's voice interrupted the brunette's wishful thinking. "I miss my man, too." Eve stared at where her mother lay (her eyes had gotten used to the darkness by now,) incredulous.

"Ma!"

"What?" the older female said defensively. "Ya didn't think I knew what that big ol' huffy breath was about? These are the sort o' trials 'n' tribulations that make a woman yearn for her man."

"Ma!"

"Don't ya take that tone with me, Eve Jane," Elvira said testily. "Yer Pa had me sighin' after him b'fore ya were even a gleam in his eye."

"_Mother!" _This was not the kind of conversation Eve wanted to have with the woman who'd borne her. Elvira chuckled.

"Someday yer own child is gonna 'Ma!' ya...an' then ya'll get to smile an' snicker at them," she predicted.

"Ma...it's not that..." Eve denied, then hastily amended: "...all right...it _is_ that...a little...but I'm more shocked that you're thinking that Pa would..." The brunette's voice trailed off, for Eve didn't want to add heartache to her mother's particular situation in spite of the truth about Frank MacGruder. Mother MacGruder shook her head.

"Ya don't need to whitewash it for me, child." Elvira told her. "I know that yer pa ain't the best at bein' there when I need him most...but he _used_ to be. An' those times I miss dearly." She heaved a sigh. "An' because I remember what those times was like, I know yer missin' yer man. Adam's a good'un, Eve Jane. If it weren't for that danged mountain lion, he'd be right here with ya."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Ma," Eve agreed, wondering what Adam was doing at that exact moment.

ADAM CARTWRIGHT ROLLED to his feet, his gun in his hand even as he squinted around him in the moonlit night. An inhuman scream and a practically-simultaneous shot had woken him up from his exhausted slumber and he was looking to identify the source of the sounds.

A few yards away lay a dead body—a rather large cougar.

A few more yards away stood Hoss, holding the rifle he'd fired at the attacking cat.

The rest of the hunting party were in various states of reaction. Adam holstered his gun, noting that Joe and a couple of other men were doing the same.

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, gentlemen," Hoss said with a sly grin on his face. "I know you all needed it...especially Li'l Joe."

"Hey!" the youngest Cartwright brother objected, but there was an answering grin on his own face. Adam went over to the dead puma, squatting next to it in order to examine the body.

"What do you think, Hoss..?" he asked, reaching out to turn the body over. "Is this the one we've been track-"

"_Don't touch it!"_ Hoss warned his brother, making Adam freeze just before his hand came into contact with the remains.

"What is it?"

"Look at it, Adam..." The biggest Cartwright walked over and nudged the carcass with his rifle. Adam's insides froze up for a moment when he saw what Hoss was referring to: there was foam on the big cat's muzzle.

"Rabid?" gulped Joe, who had also come over to look.

"This one sure seems to have been," Adam confirmed, frowning. "Hoss...is this the one that attacked Philip Brenner and the livestock?" Hoss now knelt by the cougar's corpse, intently inspecting the animal without touching it.

"Judging from the paws," The middle Cartwright brother replied gravely, "I'd say yes. I do think this'uns the cat we been trailing."

"Then we need to get to the Brenner homestead," Adam stated firmly. "They need to know...what to expect." The hunting party carefully moved the carcass of the mountain lion and built a pyre to burn the remains—they didn't want scavengers coming along and getting rabies from it. Half the party stayed to dispose of the mountain lion, while the other half—with Adam, Hoss and Joe in it—began the two-day journey back to the farm the Brenners inhabited in order to give them the bad news.

BECKY CALLAHAN WAS sitting near the window of her stepfather's kitchen, alternating her attention between shelling peas and glancing through the window in order to keep an eye on her younger brother and sister. Hop Sing would be using the peas for tonight's family dinner and her siblings were home from school since the beginning of the week. Becky, once she'd been told that the twins would not be attending class, had sent word to the manager of Callahan Station that she would be remaining at home to help out there for the foreseeable future. She'd known that her mama would need the extra help...and she didn't want to get caught away from home by Lug Dawson while Joe and the others weren't here.

Her thoughts drifted to the young man whom she had to repeatedly remind herself was now her brother by marriage, her sapphire eyes closing as she sent a quick but heartfelt prayer for his safety. Then Becky belatedly amended the prayer with hoping for the safety of everyone who'd gone after the rogue mountain lion. She sighed, wondering if she was ever going to get control of the inappropriate feelings she continued to have for the youngest of Ben Cartwright's sons.

Becky had been in the best kind of social position during the time that the celebration had been hosted by her stepfather: many eligible bachelors were present at the Ponderosa on a daily basis...and there was no Joe present to distract her from focusing on them. In spite of the dances, games and strolls that the blond had participated in while Joe was away, however...none of the other men seemed to appeal to her. Only two of the men had even been remotely attractive to her—Rob, whom Becky knew would never be able to hold her interest, and Candy Canaday. Somehow, though, it seemed that the handsome foreman of the Ponderosa had already sensed that her interest in him was not total, so he never went beyond the obligatory dance or two.

Mama had teased her just yesterday, saying that she and Uncle Ben had received five offers of marriage from various party guests, and wondering out loud if any of the gentlemen in question had followed their advice and gone to ask Becky if she wanted to marry the man making the proposal. Becky had laughed, shaking her head and never replying to the question.

The truth was...yes, each and every one of them had...and Becky had refused each one.

The blond sighed. This situation simply would not do...Joe was her brother now, and she couldn't keep pining for what she couldn't—by the Bible's own law—have for herself. She had to let him go and get on with her own life. Becky glanced out the window at her brother and sister and the tiny rabbit they were playing with in the yard.

If only she could be a child again, without a care in the world...!

"WHY IS EVERYONE so mad at Miss Harris?" Naomi asked her brother as they took turns petting and playing with Petey. Gabriel shrugged.

"I dunno," he answered. "Probably a-cuz she said she shot her daddy in the back." His sister thought about that for a while as Gabe used a bunch of carrot greens to make the pygmy rabbit with him hop determinedly after the potential meal.

"But it had to be an _accident."_ Naomi pointed out emphatically. "Anyone who knows Miss Harris at all _has_ to see that." Her brother passed the greens over to her and Naomi made sure to wave them at Petey so that the rabbit's good eye caught sight of them. Petey obligingly hopped toward her.

"I know," Gabe agreed. "But grown-ups can be silly sometimes. They like to tell us to love thy neighbor and judge not...but _they_ don't even listen to that lots of times." The girl's blond head bobbed as she seconded his observation.

"You heard what Miss Harris said," Gabe went on. "The way she said she shot her pa in the back is just the same way I said that I hit Nate Riley. I just can't understand why Papa doesn't go ask her what _really_ happened...you know..."

"Yeah...the way Joe asked us what _really_ happened," Naomi nodded again. Petey, having caught up to his prize, was now contentedly munching on the carrot greens.

"Grown-ups can be _so_ silly." Both of the twins agreed out loud.

IT WAS EARLY Saturday afternoon by the time the Cartwright brothers got back to the Ponderosa. Adam parted company with Hoss and Joe at Indian Head Rock, heading south to where his home was located while his brothers rode east to where the main house—and their father—was located. Adam urged Sport into a canter during the last mile or so, eager to get back to his wife after the arduous hunt and horrible news that had to be told to the Brenner family.

He found Eve in the kitchen, putting up the last of some vegetables she was canning. The brunette turned away from the jars, swiping one forearm across her perspiring brow—and finding herself seized by her husband. In spite of the fact that he was grubby from his hunting trip and she was sweaty and rumpled from her vegetable canning, they enjoyed a long reunion kiss.

"You don't look happy," Eve pointed out when he lifted his head. "Didn't you catch the cougar?"

"We caught the cougar...but it was rabid," Adam told her. "We...just got back from telling the Brenners." The woman in his arms drew in her breath and cupped one of his cheeks, her cocoa-colored eyes darkening with empathy. Adam's own eyes closed as he savored the caress.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Eve said. "It's terrible news for the Brenners...and not very pleasant for you to have to tell them, either."

"You're right on both counts," Her husband's hazel eyes opened. "How are you and Mother MacGruder doing? Are our...houseguests still here?"

"No, they're not," Eve answered. "Mercy returned to town the morning after...well, on Monday morning. Mrs. Pemberton was too upset to travel for a few days, but she finally seemed stable enough so that Dr. Martin allowed her to leave yesterday morning." Adam did some quick mental figuring, his arms tightening around her.

"That means we have our bedroom back..." His smug announcement was muffled as he buried his face into the side of her neck. His very stubbly face tickled her.

"Adam!" His wife chided him laughingly. "I've been canning all day and you're fresh from hunting..!" She wrinkled her nose. "Or, more appropriately, you're _not _fresh from hunting...we need to bathe—and you need to shave, because that tickles..." Adam, however, continued to nuzzle under her ear.

"We'll need hot water," It was clear he didn't intend to break off. Eve giggled in spite of herself, then forced a severe note into her voice.

"The water is already hot...I needed to wash the jars before I used them for the vegetables." She told him, then squeaked because Adam picked her up in his arms.

"Good, then," he said firmly as they exited the kitchen, "This is just the opportunity I needed to conduct an experiment."

"What experiment?" Eve asked as he bore her through the living room and made unerringly for the bathing room on the ground floor.

"An experiment to see if the bathtub can hold two people."

"_Adam!"_

Alas for Eve, the eldest Cartwright brother was one never to stint in the pursuit of knowledge.

HOSS AND JOE returned to the main house, greeted first by the enthusiastic twins, who wanted to know if that "big ol' mountain lion" was gone now. They endured the eager hugs, kisses and questions from the pair until Becky called the children back into the house.

"Uncle Ben and Mama are inside waiting on you," she told the men as she herded the twins to where Hop Sing had some mulled cider waiting for them. After assigning a ranch hand to tend to their horses, the adult Cartwright sons went into the house to find Ben and Cassandra by the fireplace in the great room.

"How are you?" the silvered blond woman asked the young men even as they removed their hats and gun belts. "You didn't get hurt, did you? You both must be starved!"

"We're fine, Mama," Hoss assured his stepmother.

"The only one that got hurt was the cougar," Joe added. "Hoss shot him dead." Cassie bustled over, her gray eyes dark with concern as she looked the pair up and down for herself. The biggest Cartwright was suddenly mindful that he and his brother were just in from spending a week hunting out in the wilderness and made to sidestep the woman.

"We oughta go clean up, though," Hoss pointed out. Joe grinned ruefully as his hand rubbed over his stubbly chin and nodded.

"If either of you so much as puts one foot towards those stairs without greeting me properly first, I'll scream!" Cassandra's voice told the pair that she meant every word. Hoss and Joe exchanged smirks—it had been a very long time, indeed, since they'd had a mother to answer to in this manner.

"We're both full grown, Mama," Hoss reminded her. "But we appreciate the fuss you're making over us." He bent and planted a kiss on her cheek. When Joe did the same, however, Cassie squeaked.

"That tickles!" she chided him, putting a hand up to her cheek—but she smiled as she said it.

"_You_ insisted on a proper greeting, Mama," Joe reminded her with a wink, quickly following his older brother up the stairs.

"Scamp!" Cassie griped, eliciting a chuckle from her husband. She sighed happily.

"I'm so glad they're home, safe and sound." Ben put an arm around her shoulders.

"So am I, Treasure," he agreed. "Although I knew they'd bag that mountain lion without too much trouble." They withdrew to the sofa to sit down, joined there first by Becky, then the twins and finally by the returning hunters, who told everyone about how the cougar had been killed as well as discovering that the animal was rabid.

"Rabid..?" Naomi prompted, her face reflecting her puzzlement.

"That means like a mad dog," Gabe told her immediately. "Only...it was a mad mountain lion." He grew thoughtful. "That's pretty bad news for Phil...isn't it?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Ben had to agree. There was a knock on the door and Becky went to answer it, opening the door to reveal Candy standing there.

"Marty came back with the mail, Ben," the foreman said as he responded to the invitation the patriarch issued and stepped into the house, removing his hat and holding up a handful of letters. Hoss suddenly recalled the time of day.

"Say...how come the young'uns are here now?" he asked. "It's only just three o'clock...did school let out early?" Cassandra and Ben exchanged glances but before either could say anything, Naomi spoke right up.

"No, Hoss," she said brightly. "Gabey an' me haven't been to school all this week!"

"Gabriel and I, young lady," Ben automatically corrected the grammar, but he could see that Hoss had noticed the expression on his stepmother's face.

"You...you didn't let the twins go to school...because of what Mercy did?" the middle Cartwright brother asked of the woman with the silver-and-gold hair. Cassandra stiffened.

"I didn't let the twins go to school..." she told him firmly, "...because I just couldn't trust that it may not happen again." Hoss stared at the determined lady in front of him, unable to believe that Cassie would judge the school teacher so.

"I will not allow my children to be threatened, Hoss, not when we can't be sure of what happened," his stepmother reiterated. "Until I know all the facts, then I won't send the twins to school while Mercy is teaching there."

"Then you can send them to school now, ma'am," Candy interrupted Hoss' intentions to argue. Everyone looked at the dark-haired man.

"What do you mean, Candy?" Ben asked.

"According to what Marty heard in town, the city council fired Mercy at the beginning of the week," the foreman told them. "Mr. Foster made her move out of the house they gave her. Right this minute, the circuit judge is hearing a case the council's filed against her."

"_What_ case?" Hoss demanded, horrified.

"The city council is claiming that Mercy got hired under false pretenses," Candy explained. "From what Marty's been able to pick up from the scuttlebutt, Mr. Foster is embarrassed that he was the one who approved her, so he's pushing to get back her pay and then some for the humiliation she's inflicted on Virginia City."

"Oh, dear..!" Cassandra gasped. She had been concerned about Mercy possibly becoming violent, but she hadn't imagined that Ralph Foster would be so vindictive. Then she reminded herself that Ralph Foster had threatened to remove the children from her care on trumped-up charges and began to think she had, perhaps, allowed her instinct to protect her family get the better of her. She turned to apologize to Hoss and found only empty air where he'd been standing.

"What? Where did he go?" the matriarch of the clan asked. Ben nodded at the now-open front door.

"Hoss was moving as soon as Candy said the words 'Mr. Foster,' Cassandra." He told her.

"Then we should go, too," Cassie said firmly. "I've made a grave error in misjudging Mercy...and Hoss may need our help when he gets to town." Moments later, everyone in the family was loaded up in the surrey and headed to town as fast as the team could get them there.


End file.
